[Ads-l] 2025 Word of the Year is "slop"

[Ben Zimmer]

https://americandialect.org/2025-word-of-the-year-is-slop/

The American Dialect Society, in its 36th annual words-of-the-year vote,
selected "slop" as the Word of the Year for 2025. More than three hundred
attendees took part in the deliberations and voting, in an event hosted in
conjunction with the Linguistic Society of America’s annual meeting.
The word "slop" was recognized for its widespread use for low-quality,
high-quantity content, most typically produced by generative AI. While "AI
slop" was a nominee in the American Dialect Society’s 2024 Word of the Year
vote, in 2025 "slop" could stand on its own, with the AI context often
implicitly understood. "Slop" was also recognized as a productive combining
form to describe anything of little value generated in mass quantities.
Presiding at the Jan. 9 voting session were Ben Zimmer, chair of the ADS
New Words Committee, and Dr. Kelly Elizabeth Wright of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. "'Slop' isn’t a new word. It has moved from the pig sty,
to the algorithm, and now forms new compounds such as 'sloppunk,'
'slopification,' and 'friend slop,'" Dr. Wright said. "This productivity
has no end in sight."

The full press release, including all winners, candidates, and vote tallies
for all candidates, is here:
https://americandialect.org/2025-word-of-the-year-press-release/

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org