{"id":62991,"date":"2025-12-15T21:20:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/merriam-webster-names-slop-word-of-the-year-2025"},"modified":"2025-12-15T22:06:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T22:06:00","slug":"merriam-webster-names-slop-word-of-the-year-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/merriam-webster-names-slop-word-of-the-year-2025","title":{"rendered":"Merriam-Webster Names ‘Slop’ Word of the Year 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong> <\/span>The editors at US dictionary Merriam-Webster \u2013 all of them verified as human beings, not computer-generated simulations \u2013 picked “slop” as the 2025 Word of the Year, nodding to a year in which AI and its effects, good and bad, dominated both newspaper headlines and casual conversation.<\/p>\n

The dictionary said Sunday on its website that they define slop as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.”<\/p>\n

It said that the “flood of slop in 2025 included absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks pretty real, (and) junky AI-written books.”<\/p>\n

“In 2025, amid all the talk about AI threats, slop set a tone that\u2019s less fearful, more mocking,” said Merriam-Webster, seen as the premier dictionary of American English, tracing its lineage to Noah Webster, the pioneering American lexicographer.<\/p>\n

The original meaning of the word, in the 1700s, was “soft mud,” while a century later slop meant “food waste” and then more generally, “rubbish” or “a product of little or no value.”<\/p>\n

In addition, among farmers, \u201cslop the hogs\u201d means feeding pigs, especially feeding them leftovers.<\/p>\n

Other words that stood out in Merriam-Webster\u2019s 2025 lookup data include gerrymander (manipulating electoral districts for political advantage), touch grass (go outside), performative, tariff, six seven (a young person\u2019s phrase that has confused adults), and conclave, owing to the Vatican meeting this May to select a new pope.<\/p>\n

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, though not exactly a word that defined the year, is also among the top lookups list on Merriam-Webster.com.<\/p>\n

The body of water takes its name from the Algonquian language of Native Americans. Situated in the state of Massachusetts and also known as Webster Lake, the lake boasts what is reportedly the longest name of any geographic feature in the United States.<\/p>\n

Find more news and analyses on Mauritius<\/span> on the Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. The editors at US dictionary Merriam-Webster \u2013 all of them verified as human beings, not computer-generated simulations \u2013 picked “slop” as the 2025 Word of the Year, nodding to a year in which AI and its effects, good and bad, dominated both newspaper headlines and casual conversation. The dictionary said Sunday on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":62990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[7151,241,7153,7152,7154,7150,7067],"class_list":["post-62991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-gerrymander","tag-mauritius","tag-merriam-webster","tag-performative","tag-slop","tag-touch-grass","tag-word-of-the-year"],"yoast_head":"\nMerriam-Webster Names 'Slop' Word of the Year 2025 - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag"> Africa-Press - Mauritius. 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