OUP shortlists for Word of the Year

'Lore', 'brain rot' among top contenders

To the delight of word-nerds and everyone who has had a passion for Spelling Bee at some point in their lives, Oxford University Press has shortlisted contenders for Word of the Year 2024. The six-word list is up on OUP's website.

The first contender is "brain rot", which the site defines as "supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging". If you're up to date with the internet's latest trends and/or lingo, you should know that you are infected by brain rot.

The second word is one that has been a top indicator of brain rot levels across social media users. This is none other than "demure". According to Oxford, demure is an adjective describing a person who is "reserved or restrained in appearance". The word was popularised by TikTok user Jools Lebron who coined the phrase "very demure, very mindful".

Prepare yourself for a whiplash because the third contender is "dynamic pricing". As per Oxford, this means "the practice of varying the price for a product or service to reflect changing market conditions". As perplexing as this addition is, Oxford justifies it by referring to the spike in concert ticket prices, which eager fans easily fall for.

Next is "lore", which is "a body of (supposed) facts, background information, and anecdotes relating to someone or something, regarded as knowledge required for full understanding or informed discussion of the subject in question". One thing we all know about being chronically online is that every like-minded social media user tends to fish for virality by dropping lore that is sure to get the internet talking.

The next contender, "romantasy", is an exclusive BookTok win. It is defined as "a genre of fiction combining elements of romantic fiction and fantasy", with fantasy being associated with magic and the supernatural.

And finally, we have "slop", which is referred to as low-quality AI-generated content that is "distributed online in an indiscriminate or intrusive way".

With a voting poll up on OUP's website, you can secure your pick now!