In an age the place synthetic intelligence is more and more taking up the writing perform for a lot of duties on the decrease finish of the communications funnel it’s refreshing to take a look at phrases in a distinct, inventive and enjoyable context.
The annual Merriam-Webster dictionary replace will get everybody speaking who’s within the English language, particularly journalists and PR professionals — and this yr is not any exception.
With some phrases and definitions, you’re simply shocked that they’re not already within the dictionary, corresponding to ultra-processed, true crime, seaside learn, burrata, creepy-crawly, far left and much proper. Capicola and avenue corn add to the foodie theme.
Merriam-Webster bought a bit of racy with IDGAF (look it up) and badassery. And who didn’t get pleasure from a great snog of their teenage years.
Merriam-Webster provides 3 phrases fueled by social media traits: Which one is your favourite?
The brand new dictionary mirrored science and nature with warmth index (a price derived from a calculation utilizing air temperature and relative humidity) and the dreaded lanternfly.
Politics additionally provides us MAGA, classical liberalism and late capitalism. Nepo infants (which Microsoft Phrase continues to be highlighting as an error) additionally appear to be far more frequent than they was once. Or perhaps we simply invented the right phrase to explain one thing we at all times knew was a factor — that’s the fantastic thing about the brand new phrases.
Social media has accelerated the widespread uptake and invention of latest phrases, and that is represented by new additions this yr together with For You web page, shadow ban and contact grass.
Then there’s freestyle, which has been a factor in my Mattress-Stuy neighborhood for a lot of a yr however is just now being formally adopted with the definition “an improvised efficiency particularly of a rap,” (OK, granddad).
We’ve had enjoyable within the newsroom this week debating the brand new phrases, which of them have been ignored that ought to be there and customarily discussing language.
Our ballot on LinkedIn discovered that the favourite new phrase of respondents out of the three we chosen was contact grass at 38%, shadowban at 15% (nonetheless ready for Microsoft right here too), For You web page at 12% — 35% of miserabalists (not in Merriam-Webster but and that’s many a long time after Morrissey appeared on the scene!) replied “No clue what any of this implies.”
I’m positive these conversations have been mirrored amongst journalists and PR groups throughout the nation. We’re all phrases and language nerds at coronary heart on this enterprise.
Merriam-Webster explains that phrases get into its dictionary when they’re utilized by many individuals who all agree it means the identical factor and the editors or lexicographers discover its widespread utilization.
There are additionally critical sides to the evolution and misuse of language. I bear in mind terrific award-winning PR campaigns that centered round phrases, such because the ReclaimYourName.dic marketing campaign on behalf of nonprofit Elimin8Hate.
The activation got down to fight bias round Asian names and normalize Asian identification by making a customized dictionary of 8,000 names in essentially the most generally used phrase processor, MS Phrase, so they might now not present up with crimson error squiggles beneath them after they have been typed into this system.
Microsoft bought on board and labored with the nonprofit to combine the phrases into its MS 365 functions and clear up this anachronism. An excellent marketing campaign and a strong instance of the attain of efficient PR, which gained Marketing campaign of the 12 months on the PRWeek International Awards in 2023 and Greatest Range, Fairness of Inclusion on the PRWeek Function Awards in the identical yr.
So come on Frank Shaw and the workforce at Microsoft — let’s get all these new additions ratified by your eponymous phrase processing software program and take away the crimson squiggles from Merriam-Websters new phrases!