From top: The New York Times’ Oxford Word of the Year on Instagram; Tom Holland, among those responsible for the rise of the word;
The word of the year on a t-shirt
There we have it, the dictionaries have released their words for 2023, and if you’ve been looking for another way to feel out of place, this is the event for you.
Let’s start with the easy one: Merriam-Webster’s word is authentic And that’s very nice of them because it’s both a word we know and a word we can understand its content connection to the past year.
Other words that entered their short list: coronation (remember that King Charles was crowned sometime this year?), dystopian (no explanation needed) and note the surprising entry: kibbutz.
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When you get to the words of the Oxford dictionary, the business starts to get interesting and requires a preliminary bachelor’s degree in TikTok.
Take for example their official word for 2023:
Rizz
And in Hebrew: hmm, no, we don’t have such a word. The interpretation: a generation z slang word derived from the word charisma. According to the New York Times, the word grew out of the gaming culture, and since I have representatives of the gaming generation at home, I asked for an explanation and the answer I received was that it is not about charisma, but “an ability that is expressed in front of someone who is interested in them, romantically, through synchronous or asynchronous communication.” Something like that. A man said to have Rizz: Pete Davidson. According to the New York Times, the roots of the new word are planted in 2022 (here at home I am told that it was already in use in 2021) so it popped up with YouTuber Kai Cenat whose rizz tips went viral after Tom Holland said during an interview with BuzzFeed that:
״I have no rizz whatsoever. I have limited rizz.״
More words that starred this year even if they will not enter 2024 with the crown:
Beige Flag
Unlike a person whose personality is decorated with red flags, the beige flag does not make a person toxic, but only annoying. What for example, you ask? Well according to The Cut a beige flag flies over preferring Pepsi over Coke and keeping parents on the phone with their full name. On TikTok you can find many more esoteric examples such as someone whose boyfriend uses a timer instead of an alarm clock, which is, of course, very worrying and justifies waving a beige flag.
De-influencing
The ability to encourage people not to buy things.
Swiftie
The word that describes belonging to the tribe of Taylor Swift lovers. I asked ChatGPT what it takes to officially be a Swifty and you’ll be happy to hear that loving her songs is enough. Although many Swifties also belong to online communities and make sure to attend concerts, but this is not obligatory.
Parasocial
A one-sided relationship between any person and a celeb or celeb-instagram or celeb-tiktok or celeb-social network, when a feeling of intimacy is created on one side.
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The word that stands out in my eyes is the one chosen by the Cambridge dictionary: : Hallucinateor as we usually say at least five times a day: hallucination.
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I think Taylor has Rizz but maybe I’m just Swifty.