As the year wraps up, we often turn to language to help us make sense of the shifts we’ve lived through. Words of the year, chosen by dictionaries and cultural observers alike, act as snapshots of our collective experiences, anxieties, and aspirations. Today’s trendsetter is the "Word of the Year" (WOTY), but before we dive in, let me wish you a happy next trip around the sun. May it be an insightful and joyful one!

From Oxford to Collins to the Australian Dictionary, these words give form to the unspoken, helping us to process what’s happening collectively in society. Here’s a snapshot of the words of the year for 2024:

🇺🇸 Collins: Brat claimed the top spot, evolving from a spoiled child to an icon of unapologetic insolence.

🇺🇸 Merriam-Webster: Polarization: The division of society into distinct and often opposing groups, creating heightened tensions and conflicts over political, social, and cultural issues.

🇺🇸 Dictionary.com: Demure: Characterized by reserved, modest, and shy behavior, often seen as a contrast to the loud and outspoken trends in modern society.

🇬🇧Oxford: Brain rot, a term describing the anxiety caused by the overconsumption of mediocre online content. In just one year, its usage surged by 230%, reflecting an era trapped in its own excesses.

🇬🇧Cambridge Dictionary: Manifest it refers to the practice of using visualization and affirmation techniques to imagine and achieve something you desire, with the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen. This concept gained significant popularity on social media platforms and it was Cambridge dictionary posted locked up word.

🇦🇺The Australian National Dictionary Centre chose Colesworth as their Word of the Year. It describes the perceived duopoly of Australia's largest supermarket retailers, Coles and Woolworths, reflecting growing frustration with their market dominance and pricing practices.

🇦🇺Macquarie Dictionary: Enshittification as the Word of the Year for 2024 (also ADS word of the year in 2023). This term refers to the gradual deterioration of a service or product, especially online platforms, due to a reduction in quality driven by profit-seeking motive

Takeaway: If anyone wasn't convinced of the impact of social media and online communication, now is the time to change their opinion. With over 80% of the Words of the Year expressing sentiments from social media or popularized on these platforms, we cannot undermine the impact of social media on the future of human communication.

Other Worthy WOTY

⛩️ Marie Dollé "Liminal". It perfectly captures the in-between spaces we find ourselves in—transitioning from what was to what might be.

⏪ Nancy Friedman in Fritinancy newsletter and the analysis of Prefix of the year deserve a spotlight.

🟤 Pantone unveiled its Mocha Mousse, not really a word of the year but color of the year - More to come on colors of the year in the next edition of the trendsletter

Always fun to get some perspective re-read:

• ​2023 Trendsletter on words of the year​
• ​2022 Trendsletter on concept of the year​
• ​2021 Trendsetter on words of the year​

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See you soon,

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