Time’s up! Now that 2024 is over, what do you think was the Word of the Year (WOTY)?

Actually, there are many possibilities, largely because many different organizations determine their own answer to that question. But you should first ponder the question and decide your own preferred answer before you find out what the various selections have been, from sources ranging from the American Dialect Society to the Oxford University Press. This photo illustrates Merriam-Webster’s choice.

Note, by the way, that the “word” of the year doesn’t have to be what the unwashed masses consider a “word” to be. A closely tied phrase is fine (the sort of thing that would be a single word in German). But no one wants to call it “lexical item of the year,” which would be just too too pedantic, so we’re left with “word of the year.”

Don’t peek until you’ve made your own choice…

So, here are seven organizations’ carefully determined answers. In alphabetical order (naturally) we have:

• The American Dialect Society is perhaps the most authoritative source (in my totally objective and not so humble opinion). But they won’t make their choice until later this month. So you’ll only get six answers for now. Oh well.
• Cambridge Dictionary chose manifest.
• Dictionary.com chose demure.
• The Economist chose kakistocracy.
• Macquarie chose enshittification.
• Merriam-Webster chose polarization.
• The Oxford University Press chose brain rot. Perhaps that illustrates why a plurality of American voters voted for Donald Trump. Or perhaps his cabinet picks are designed to illustrate the Economist’s WOTY choice.

On a not-so-different matter, Ron Filipkowski just posted this appropriate (genuine and unedited) photo, showing President-elect fElon Musk’s vehicle on fire in front of you-know-who’s hotel:

Categories: Linguistics