The internet became a bigger cesspool of misinformation than ever this year. So this pick makes sense . . .
Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2025 is “SLOP”, as in “A.I. slop.”
They define it as “digital content of low quality that is produced, usually in quantity, by means of artificial intelligence.”
A.I. content got so cheap and easy this year, it’s unavoidable now. From cookie-cutter writing full of botched facts, to that “fun” video your dad sent of an old lady on a sled crashing into a fence. A.I. slop is everywhere.
They say they picked it because it managed to sum up the problem in just four letters. And it gave us a fun way to MOCK A.I. “The word sends a little message to A.I.: When it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes you DON’T seem too super-intelligent.”
Other words that made their shortlist include “gerrymander”, “touch grass”, “performative”, “tariff”, and Dictionary.com’s word of the year, “six seven.”
(They also gave a shout-out to a lake in New England that’s featured in the Roblox game “Spelling Bee”. Good luck pronouncing it: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg.)
