“Selfie” in 2013.
“Vape” in 2014.
Then another four years later in 2018, “toxic.”
And to join the list of Oxford English Dictionary’s annual Word of the Year for 2024 … “brain rot.”
That’s what the renowned lexicon announced as its Word of the Year on Sunday, Dec. 1, with an Instagram post.
No, the Oxford folks aren’t delulu. Brain rot is the sigma based on more than 37,000 votes from Friday-Friday, Nov. 14-28, as online users cast their choice through Oxford University Press’ X, Instagram, LinkedIn and home page website.
Besides brain rot earning the people’s choice Word of the Year, Oxford posted a shortlist of five other top terms though it didn’t include how many votes such as “demure,” “demure,” “dynamic pricing,” “lore,” “romantasy” and “slop” got.
In the Instagram post, the New York Times wrote: “The Word of the Year contest is based on usage evidence drawn from a continually updated collection of some 26 billion words, which is taken from news sources across the English-speaking world.”
Students have varied reactions to this new word selection, and while most feel that it’s a bit ridiculous, it doesn’t pose any real harm.
“I think the word was very popular this year, so I can see why it was chosen, but I find it kind of sad,” sophomore Felipe Jikal said. “There’s a lot of better words out there that stand for more things than just brain rot.”
WHAT DOES TRANSCENDENTALIST AUTHOR THOREAU AND BRAIN ROT HAVE IN COMMON?
Oxford English Dictionary defines brain rot as the “supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.”
In explaining its origin, it linked the two-word phrase to something that poet Henry David Thoreau wrote in his 1854 musings, Walden, “with a small number of further occurrences in the 19th century.”
According to Wikipedia, Thoreau “criticized what he saw as a decline in intellectual standards, with complex ideas being less highly regarded, and compared this to the 1840s “potato rot” in Europe.”
English teacher David Wolf used to teach Walden, and said that while it is an unusual comparison, it likely has some truth to it.
“I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Thoreau did; I’ve never heard the term until you mentioned it but I think I understand it, it certainly makes sense to me,” Wolf said. “It’s just the dumbing down of the world, which it’s very easy to be dumb in the world now because we’ve created a world in which that’s OK.”
According to a Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, SBS News article, the earliest online posts about brain rot were on X, formerly known as Twitter, in 2007, commenting on video games, reality shows and other online content.
It gained popularity in 2023 as more social media users like TikTok user Heidi Becker (@heidsbecker on TikTok) began using it as a meme on Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and TikTok.
THE 21ST-CENTURY VERSION OF ORWELLIAN NEWSPEAK
According to Wikipedia, the phrase eventually took on a language of its own, as Gen Z and Gen Alpha came up with new words to describe their feelings and observations — all under the guise of brain rot. Some online content is commonly labelled “brain rot”, such as the web series Skibidi Toilet.
Similar to Newspeak, a modified language in Oceania, a state in Orwell’s dystopian novel, teens acknowledge the concept of brain rot terms and can often use them ironically or unironically in conversations with one another.
Oceania’s citizens might describe a person’s actions as being “double plus-good” while modern youths might use brain rot terms to say that the same person has “positive aura.”
Teens might also see someone who appears to be very masculine and independent and describe him as a “sigma” or see a guy interacting with a girl and say he has “rizz.”
For “skibidi,” it all started when Russian YouTuber Alexey Gerasimov posted short videos about “skibidi toilet” on his channel, starting in May 2023 with over 49 million views as of Monday, Nov. 18, which has since then amassed 44.2 million subscribers.
The video itself is about toilets that have men’s heads coming out of them, and the now 181-part series shows that they are at war with men who have cameras for heads.
SIGMA, DELTA, CHI VS. SIGMA, RIZZ, SKIBIDI
While sigma, delta and chi each represent a letter in the Greek alphabet and can be combined to form the name of a Greek fraternity or sorority in college, brain rot words aren’t all that connected like the Greek language.
In fact, many students tend to view the terms as just a way to get a good laugh.
An online Accolade October poll from Wednesday, Sept. 25-Monday, Jan. 13 with 166 responses asked the following question: “What is your favorite brain rot term?”
Nearly half at 43% didn’t have a favorite and hate brain rot compared with 16% of respondents liking “skibidi.”
Junior Logan Langrell said she agrees with the 43% and doesn’t like brain rot terms.
“Brain rot just sounds stupid, and as TikTok progresses and as media progresses, it just keeps getting worse,” Langrell said. “[But] there could be worse things progressing, so I guess it’s not that bad.”
Sophomore Francis De Guzman also said he doesn’t agree with skibidi being a highly picked brain rot term, preferring other more recent terms instead.
“I think skibidi is a word more for the younger generation, like, I don’t hear my friends say it anymore,” De Guzman said. “Rather, I think rizz is a pretty important brain rot word, since at our age, we put a lot of emphasis on dating and relationships.”
GENERATION GAP
Just like in the 1990s, teens would react with giggles or slight laughter when an adult would say something in class like, “That’s da bomb!” Sunny Hills students have similar reactions in their academic classes when teachers today intentionally or unintentionally speak brain rot.
“They get excited when we learn sigma notation [later in the spring semester],” math teacher Dorothy Chen said. “Or they’ll say they’re ‘cooked’ [21st-century word for “I’m done for”] when there’s a test.”
Chen was referring to the Algebra 2 concept that uses the Greek symbol sigma as a shorthand notation when writing a sum of a series of terms, though it does not correlate with the slang term.
“A lot of the time, I struggled to stay engaged because I was just trying to keep up; but when sigma was brought up, I remember everyone, myself included, letting out little chuckles,” said junior June Nguyen, who had Chen last year. “It was one of the more lighthearted moments in class, so I definitely mentioned it to people who might have her in the future!”
English teacher Scott Rosenkranz said the change in how teens and adults speak is a constant and that learning students’ slang over time is also just a part of the high school teaching experience.
“I think adolescence is a really creative time in life, and young people have always created their own language to describe things and differentiate themselves from the generation before,” said Rosenkranz, who’s familiar with brain rot terms from hearing it at home from his kid or students at school. “I think the difference is maybe the speed at which that language catches on because of the internet.”
Rosenkranz, who’s also the school’s International Baccalaureate coordinator, said he thinks it’s wonderful that newer generations are finding their own identity through language.
“I think people are creative by nature, and adolescence is a phase in life where there’s a lot of creativity and a desire to differentiate yourself from the older generation, and language is a way we do that,” he said.
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ACADEMIC LANGUAGE?
Wolf said he has seen some words show up as substitutes for formal English words in his essay assignments.
“They don’t think it’s slang,” the English teacher said.
Wolf said many students these days don’t see these terms as informal language, and that he is okay to a certain degree and doesn’t necessarily dock points for brain rot terms.
“I do not look at slang necessarily as a negative — just a byproduct of time,” Wolf said. “I revel in the evolution of language.
I think if it doesn’t keep changing, it will die.”
While the English teacher said he doesn’t have a favorite brain rot term, he occasionally asks students what they mean when they mention them in class and enjoys his students’ reactions when he tries to mention them.
“It’s always been kind of a habit and hobby just to keep up with everything,” he said. “I always find it interesting how language is always changing, and it’s the young people who do it.”
Some students agree that the evolution of brain rot terms has brought a downside when it comes to academics.
“I think it is more detrimental for society since there are a lot of people who don’t understand it, and the more it spreads, the worse talking and proper communication becomes,” senior Nicholas Jakubowski said.
Junior Terah Nohl also said this trend can be extreme with people overusing brain rot terms and trying to squeeze them into any situation, but has yet to really see this happen.
“If they just use them as a joke, I think it’s fine,” Nohl said. “However, if they start using these terms in serious situations, such as in their class presentations or homework assignments, I think that would be detrimental for our society in the long run.”
Nevertheless, for students like senior David Tapia, they see the latest iteration of teen slang in a more lighthearted manner and have found it fun to use it from time to time.
“I find it funny but only used in context because I do use some words like rizz and skibidi mostly because they’re a lighthearted way to convey information jokingly, like ‘rizz on friends,’” Tapia said. “Of course, I understand they get annoying quickly and can lose meaning real fast.”
