Words of the Year 2024
Image by Deltaworks/Kohji Asakawa for Pixabay
The words of the year for the Oxford, Cambridge and Collins English Dictionaries form an interesting snapshot of the evolution of word meaning and of contemporary society.
Oxford E.D. - ‘brain rot’ – “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterised as likely to lead to such deterioration.”
I hadn’t heard of this one before and, though I don’t warm to the term, there’s so much brain rot around that I’m sure I will use it.
As with so many supposedly new things that ‘go viral,’ it’s not new at all. The first recorded use of ‘brain rot’ was found in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book ‘Walden’, “While England endeavours to cure the potato rot, will not any endeavour to cure the brain-rot – which prevails so much more widely and fatally?”
Though I’m not a fan of the term ‘brain rot,’ I wholeheartedly endorse Thoreau’s plea!
Sadly dumbing down and brain rot contribute to the increasing polarisation we see at local, national and international levels. It’s a chicken and egg situation – media platforms feed their audience clickbait and soundbites, consumers seem less and less willing to engage with the nuances and complexities of issues. Which comes first? I’ve no idea but it’s a negative spiral.
My husband is a born questioner and one of the few people I know who makes quite a lot of effort to fact-check what he hears in the news. He listens to extended in-depth reports about issues and I benefit from hearing his summaries. I take comfort from the fact that he, at least, will not succumb to brain rot.
Collins E.D. - ‘brat’ newly defined in 2024 as “characterised by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.’ Collins asserted that, ‘Inspired by the Charli XCX album, ‘brat’ has become one of the most talked about words of 2024. More than a hugely successful album, ‘brat’ is a cultural phenomenon that has resonated with people globally, and ‘brat summer’ established itself as an aesthetic and a way of life.” News to me.
Tracking the evolution of ‘brat’ through English gives us:
1530’s – “an unwanted/unplanned child,” (differing from a bastard in that a married couple might have a brat.)
1788 - brattery "nursery" – I love that!
1808 – “uncouth, ill-mannered child”
1968 – usage expands to include “childishly selfish or ill-mannered adult”
2024 – person “characterised by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.”
I’ll leave you to draw your own inferences from brat’s development…
Cambridge E.D. – manifest “To use methods such as visualisation and affirmation to help you imagine achieving something you want, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen.”
This is an interesting one and we’ll delve deeper next month.
