Heh. Merriam-Webster named ‘slop’ because the phrase of the 12 months
I’m a phrase nerd. (You is probably not shocked to be taught this.) And whereas I wouldn’t say that dictionaries perform as writing bibles, their spelling standardizations stave off chaos. In addition they seize the social zeitgeist of the time, as exemplified by Merriam-Webster’s nomination of a phrase to greatest encapsulate 2025. Its choose: “Slop.”
Sure, the exact same phrase we use to explain meals not fit to be eaten (however completely high-quality for pigs at a trough) now shoulders the burden of describing a sure type of AI content material. Particularly: “Digital content material of low high quality that’s produced, often in amount by the use of synthetic intelligence.”
I’ve no arguments about that. However what’s wild is how Merriam-Webster has reordered their definition checklist for “slop.”
Right here’s how definitions work. When a phrase has a number of, the primary definition listed is what the dictionary editors take into account to be the commonest affiliation. Merriam-Webster follows this observe—and the brand new AI definition now takes the highest spot as definition 1A. The previous high frequent definition of “a product of little or no worth” (aka garbage) now has been relegated as a broader variation of the AI-variant.
As for the definition I grew up with—meals waste fed to pigs—Merriam-Webster has bumped that right down to definition 1B. Nonetheless frequent, however not as frequent.
(Merriam-Webster could possibly be accused by a few of being a bit trendier with its definitions, however that’s a set of debates that I’ll prevent from.)
Talking of developments (and different issues presumably not fit to be eaten), slop isn’t the one phrase on the checklist for high 2025 contenders. Gerrymander, contact grass, performative, tariff, six-seven, conclave, and Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. No, that final one will not be a typo.
Are a few of these phrases truly phrases? Sure. Is the historical past behind them nonetheless fascinating? Additionally sure. You may learn extra about them in Merriam-Webster’s 2025 word-of-the-year submit, and if you wish to actually nerd out, search for the primary historic makes use of of phrases within the Oxford English Dictionary. (I’ve spent a number of time doing the latter as a leisure exercise.)
As for the phenomenon described by this newly elected phrase of the 12 months, we are going to doubtless see issues worsen earlier than they get higher. I’m anticipating 2026 to be a 12 months the place everybody must be extra cautious than ever when in search of out high quality, reliable info. However not less than you possibly can lean on our employees right here at PCWorld to chop by means of the noise round tech.
