Does your vocabulary need a little updating? Yes, there are some words and phrases created in the past year that are used by the “In Crowd.”
The Cambridge Dictionary’s 2024 word of the year:
Manifest – to use methods such as visualization and affirmation to help you imagine achieving something you want, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen.
Here are some more for you to chew on:
Nepo baby – a person who gains success or opportunities through familial connections, especially a child of a famous parent (such as an actor, musician, entrepreneur, or politician)
Touch Grass – to participate in normal activities in the real world especially as opposed to online experiences and interactions
IYKYK – Written abbreviation for “if you know you know,” used on social media and in text messages, to show that there is a shared joke or shared knowledge with the reader that other people might not understand.
Enshittification – The gradual degradation of an online platform or service’s functionality, as part of a cycle in which the platform or service first offers benefits to users to attract them, then pursues more and more profits at the expense of users.
Bed rotting – The practice of spending many hours in bed during the day, often with snacks or an electronic device, as a voluntary retreat from activity or stress.
Girl dinner – An often attractively presented collection of snacks that involve little preparation, such as small quantities of cold cuts, cheese, fruit, cherry tomatoes, etc., deemed sufficient to constitute a meal for one.
Mid – Mediocre, unimpressive, or disappointing.
Bussin’ – Great; wonderful; amazing.
The ick – A sudden feeling of disgust or dislike, often in response to the actions of another person.
Pretty privilege – An unearned and mostly unacknowledged societal advantage that a person has by fitting into the beauty standards of their culture.
Barbiecore – An aesthetic, or style featuring playful pink outfits, accessories, decor, etc., celebrating and modeled on the wardrobe of the Barbie doll.
Quishing – The scam of phishing via QR code.
Resenteeism – To continue doing your job but resent it. This blend of resent and absenteeism is appearing in business journalism.
Gymfluencer – a social media influencer whose content is focused on fitness or bodybuilding. Cocktail party problem (also cocktail party effect) – the difficulty of focusing on one voice when there are multiple speakers in the room. This term from audiology is now being used with reference to AI.
Vampire – a vampire device or vampire appliance is one which uses energy even when not in use. This is a new, adjective sense of an existing word.
