OUP Word of the Year ‘mildly embarrassing’ and ‘cringe’ say students

This year it's the 20th anniversary of OUP Word of the Year. With contenders are brain rot, demure, dynamic pricing, lore, romantasy and slop.

Students were asked for their thoughts on this shortlist of words, with one Oxford Brookes student, Skye Gregory, saying, “They make me mildly embarrassed that this is how our generation speaks”.

Another student said, “The list feels very influenced by social media which is no bad thing, however, personally, I find it quite cringy” 

Oxford University Press justified last year's winner Rizz saying that words and phrases that evolve from internet culture are ‘increasingly becoming part of day-to-day vernacular’.

The Contenders for OUP Word of the Year are compiled as a reflection of the past year, with a clear influence of social media, with words Demure, Brain rot and romantasy currently trending on TikTok.

The term brain rot “became more prominent, increased by 250% in frequency per million words between 2023 and 2024 in our corpora” states OUP.

What will you be voting for this year? Voting is open from November 14th and will close on Thursday, November 28th, at 3 p.m.

Vote here: https://corp.oup.com/ . The winner will be announced on December 2nd.