Exploring the Words of the Year 2024 | Brain Rot and Manifest

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Teacher's Blog

Oxford University Press named "brain rot" as its 2024 Word of the Year. The term was chosen after a public vote of over 37,000 people, along with analysis of language data and worldwide discussion. Oxford University Press announced "brain rot" as the 2024 Word of the Year on December 2, 2024.

Meaning of ' Brain rot ' : 

According to Oxford University Press, "brain rot" is the supposed decline of a person's mental or intellectual state. It's often seen as a result of consuming too much material, especially online content, that's considered trivial unchallenging. "Brain rot" can also refer to something that's likely to lead to such a decline.

Reason of the new word ' Brain rot ' :

‘Brain rot’ is defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration”.

The term has taken on new significance in the digital age, especially over the past 12 months. Initially gaining traction on social media platform—particularly on TikTok among Gen Z and Gen Alpha communities—’brain rot’ is now seeing more widespread use, such as in mainstream journalism, amidst societal concerns about the negative impact of overconsuming online content. 

In 2024, ‘brain rot’ is used to describe both the cause and effect of this, referring to low-quality, low-value content found on social media and the internet, as well as the subsequent negative impact that consuming this type of content is perceived to have on an individual or society.

The first recorded use of ‘brain rot’ was found in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, which reports his experiences of living a simple lifestyle in the natural world. As part of his conclusions, Thoreau criticizes society’s tendency to devalue complex ideas, or those that can be interpreted in multiple ways, in favour of simple ones, and sees this as indicative of a general decline in mental and intellectual effort: “While England endeavours to cure the potato rot, will not any endeavour to cure the brain-rot – which prevails so much more widely and fatally?”

Manifest :The Cambridge most viewed word of dictionary 2024 : 

The controversial global trend of manifesting has driven Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year for 2024. 'Manifest' was looked up almost 130,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary website, making it one of the most-viewed words of 2024.In 2024, the word manifest jumped from being mainly used in the self-help community and on social media to being mentioned widely across mainstream media.

 When famous performers, star athletes, and influential entrepreneurs claim they have achieved something because they manifested it, they are using this verb in a more recent sense: to use specific practices to focus your mind on something you want, to try to make it become a reality. 

The use of ' Manifest ' :

The use of this sense of manifest has gained in popularity with the increasing number of “manifesting influencers” promoting this scientifically unproven practice on social media—so much so that it was added to the Cambridge Dictionary in May of 2023.

'' Manifest won this year because it increased notably in lookups, its use widened greatly across all types of media, and it shows how the meanings of a word can change over time.”

            - Wendalyn Nichols, Publishing Manager Cambridge Dictionary

My reference sources are :

The Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year 2024.https://dictionary.cambridge.org/editorial/word-of-the-year

Heaton, Benedict. “‘Brain rot’ named Oxford Word of the Year 2024.” Oxford University Press, 2 Dec. 2024, https://corp.oup.com/news/brain-rot-named-oxford-word-of-the-year-2024/

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