As I sit down to reflect on the choices made by prominent dictionaries and publications for this year’s linguistic torchbearer, it feels like not so long ago that I wrote last year’s Word of the Year. Time, like language, marches inexorably forwards, and with each passing year our lexicon evolves to mirror the highs, lows, and nuances of our collective human experience. Make yourself a hot drink and join me on this exploration of linguistic trends as we delve into 2023’s words of the year.
As in previous years the first outlet out of the gate was Collins, with their word of the year ‘AI’. Other words on their shortlist included ‘ULEZ’, ‘ultra-low emission zone’; ‘ultra-processed’, usually referring to food that has undergone a lot of processing; ‘canon event’, an event in someone’s life history deemed critical in the formation of their identity or personality; ‘nepo baby’, those who benefit from having rich or famous parents, and the curiously specific cricket term ‘bazball’, referring to an aggressive style of play. Collins seems to have its finger on the cultural pulse here, as artificial intelligence has definitely been a hot topic this year, since the arrival on the scene of ChatGPT towards the end of 2022, and the subsequent explosion of chat bots, text-to-image generators, and virtual AI assistants.
It is perhaps entirely unsurprising then that The Economist’s language columnist went straight to the heart of things and chose ‘ChatGPT’ as their word of the year. Their columnist spoke to several colleagues operating in various parts of the world to canvass their suggestions which included ‘coup’, as Africa has seen two successful coups this year; ‘vishwaguru’, a word popularised thanks to India’s hosting of the G20 and meaning something like ‘teacher to the world’; ‘Global North’, a term coined as a counterpart to ‘global south’, which has replaced the outdated term ‘third world’ and ‘lan wei lou’, a term popularised in China amidst the catastrophic collapse of its property market and meaning ‘rotten-tail building’.
Sticking with the same theme the Americans over at Merriam-Webster opted for ‘authentic’ as their word of the year. While ‘deepfake’, another choice on their shortlist, and ‘authenticity’ both speak to anxieties around things being as they appear in a world now shot through with powerful AI tools, ‘authentic’ also made more prosaic appearances in the American consciousness this year, with celebrities like Sam Smith and Taylor Swift extolling the virtues of finding their ‘authentic voice’. Other highlights from their shortlist included ‘coronation’, which is self explanatory, the same with ‘dystopian’; ‘EGOT’, an acronym for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, the four major acting awards; ‘Implode’, searches of which peaked after the fate of the Titan submersible became more widely known, and ‘indict’, following the intractable legal troubles of former president Donald Trump.
Another dictionary jumping on the AI train was Cambridge with their word ‘hallucinate’, referring to an AI model producing false information. Cambridge did not produce a shortlist but included several other ai-related words, several of which, like ‘hallucinate’, have picked up ai-related definitions, like ‘train’, ‘bias’ and ‘prompt’. Okay, fine, but we’re getting a bit bored of this theme now.
The OED bucked the trend in favour of their usual ‘hello fellow kids’ routine, and chose ‘rizz’ as their word of the year. Apparently meaning ‘style, charm or attractiveness’ search volumes increased when actor Tom Holland described himself as having ‘limited rizz’. The word is, I gather, a shortening of the word ‘charisma’. It was also shortlisted by Merriam–Webster. OED finalists included ‘prompt’, another AI related showing (can there be no escape?), ‘situationship’, a romantic or sexual relationship that is not formal or established and ‘Swiftie’, an enthusiastic fan of Taylor Swift. Once again, a deeply disappointing list from Oxford. The OED doesn’t have to be cool. It doesn’t have to be relevant. It already is. It could choose ‘eutrophication’ as its word of the year and sad word nerds like me would still be like ‘Yeah, okay, cool!’ - instead its editors (who persistently refuse to give me a job despite several applications) have clearly just been spending too much time on Tiktok.
Finally, for some levity we turn to our friends down under and the Macquarie Dictionary. As before there are a couple of winners from different categories. The editor’s choice was the humorous ‘cozzie livs’, an abbreviation for ‘cost of living’ very much in the style of ‘platty joobs’ which was popular last year around the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The reader’s choice award went to ‘generative AI’ which, at this point, snore. Honourable mentions from their shortlists include ‘bazball’, ‘rizz’, and the ‘doorway effect’, a word for that feeling when you walk into the kitchen and don’t know why you went in there.
And so, what of my word of the year? Well, let’s have a think.
It’s undeniable that much of the popular imagination over the last twelve months has indeed been captured by AI and the capabilities and risks thereof, as every single one of our WOTY outlets has attested. I have myself had a play around with some of the generative AI tools that are out there, and while some of them make for a fun toy - can you guess which word of the week article this year was written almost entirely by ChatGPT? - I fail to see them as anything more than that, to be honest. Inflated talk of an AI apocalypse or an AI-backed utopia harkens back to the same usual suspects who wanted to ‘disrupt’ finance with crypto and NFTs, and they turned out to be nothing more than a house built on sand. Maybe I’ll eat my words in a few years but for now I’m honestly sick of hearing about it.
2023 did not seem to be dominated by several major news events in the same way that 2022 was. In 2022 it was very much the Royal Family and Ukraine that occupied the column inches but it’s harder to pin down a ‘theme’ for 2023.
When I look back on 2023 and compare it to 2022 I am shocked at how little has changed. How little progress any of us has made. The war in Ukraine ground past its one year anniversary and its second anniversary is rapidly approaching. Are we any closer to a resolution? Conflict has again flared in the Middle East. Niger and Gabon experienced coups, continuing a recent trend of six other coups in the area in the last three years. Thirteen years of government by the same party and we have nothing to show for it. PISA test scores in all four nations of the UK are lower than they were in 2006. NHS waiting lists are the longest they have been in nearly a decade. Real earnings growth hit its lowest point since 2009. Food and accommodation remain as expensive as ever. I will never be able to afford my own home. The US presidential election next year is set to be a rerun of the 2020 election… I could go on. It might just be me, but it feels like we’re going backwards. We’re certainly not going forwards, at any rate, and so my rather depressing word for 2023 is
stagnation
stag-nay-shun
noun
Lack of activity, growth or development
This is the last entry for 2023. There will be a brief hiatus over the Christmas and new year period, and I will resume in the new year.
Wishing you all a joyous holiday season and a word-filled new year! Until we meet again in the realm of words, take care and stay curious!
I monitor the web extensively for my newsletter about the English language, and I have been rather depressed at the increase of content that has been generated by AI. This absolute gunk that has been generated to answer often-asked questions in Google to get hits and sell ads. This is the danger of AI, and the importance, I think. A flooding of our information channels with disinformation generated at the click of a button.
At the same time I am more optimistic than you are. I listen to a podcast called "What's your problem" about engineers and scientists who are coming up with technology-based solutions to humanity's problems. There's no stagnation there! Human beings remain flawed, but the technology around us might be able to help. I hope, anyway!