American Dialect Society 2025 Word of the Year Is "Slop"

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

57•ChrisArchitect•3h ago

Comments

ChrisArchitect•3h ago

Where some of the other big WOTY selections ended up:

Oxford 'rage bait' https://corp.oup.com/news/the-oxford-word-of-the-year-2025-i...

Collins 'vibe coding' https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-lovers/collins-w...

Cambridge 'parasocial' https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2025/11/18/cambridge-di...

Dictionary.com '67' https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-year-2025/

Merriam-Webster 'slop' https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year

Analemma_•2h ago

I think ADS and Merriam-Webster got it right. "Rage bait" and "parasocial" were the WOTY 2-3 years ago; not that they've gone away, but they were of a previous moment. "Vibe coding" is too specific, and "67" is trying too hard to be Hip and With It.

"Slop" is the word that perfectly captures what so much of 2026 was about, and I heard it from every direction, including people not into tech at all.

shmerl•1h ago

Another new term - sloperator.

BoneShard•1h ago

microslop

shmerl•1h ago

That one too

robotnikman•1h ago

Me and my coworkers have been using Microslop a lot lately. Usually when Teams is having some kind of annoying issue.

anonnon•21m ago

The wikipedia entry, should it ever get one, ought to prominently feature a photo of Simon Willison.

anonnon•1h ago

> 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,

I'm not sure if it matters, but the term AI Slop started on 4chan, probably on /g/, derived from the ubiquitous 4chan "goyslop" meme (used to describe ultraprocessed food). Seeing "normies" casually throwing it around, completely unaware of its etymology is... interesting. Likewise interesting is how this article retconned its etymology, to omit any mention of its true inspiration. (Maybe because the term has gone mainstream?)

fluoridation•1h ago

I'm pretty sure "slop" in the sense used in "AI slop" is a word in common usage for any kind of cheap, low-quality, unpalatable edible paste, like gruel or anything of that nature, especially when it has a homogeneous consistency. It can also appear in verb form such as "slop it onto a plate", that is to scoop up the slop with a ladle or some other utensil and messily splat in onto a dining plate. It very much is not Internet slang, and I'd say it's quite an appropriate term for what it describes in its new meaning.

anonnon•57m ago

"AI slop" is an internet meme that bears a strking resemblance to another, older meme, "goyslop"; why is it such a stretch to believe the former derived from the latter? "AI slop" was being used on 4chan as far back as November, 2022 on /g/:

https://desuarchive.org/g/thread/89758234/#q89758967

https://desuarchive.org/g/thread/89911387/#q89931883

It also saw its first use that month on /pol/, though I won't link to the archived threads (for obvious reasons). Unless you can provide earlier prior art, the most likely etymology of the term is 4chan, November, 2022, derived from "goyslop."

wincy•43m ago

Because we’ve fed slop to pigs since the 1600s? It’s a commonly known word with a clearly understood meaning. It didn’t come from or is a shortening of goyslop, you’re just flat out wrong.

stonogo•23m ago

Same source shows 'slop' alone being used as far back as 2008: https://desuarchive.org/_/search/text/slop/order/asc/ Some of these uses are the verb form, but most are the noun form, being used in pretty much the same sense it has been used for generations, and is in use today.

fluoridation•22m ago

Okay. If "slop" is a shortened form of "goyslop", then what's the etymology of "goyslop"? Is it just a wholly novel sequence of unrelated letters?

nephihaha•1m ago

Goy is the Hebrew for a Gentile (or a nation). However, while goyslop is an earlier coinage I certainly do not link it to AI-slop, but more to "sloppy".

nephihaha•2m ago

Nah... I've heard the term slop used all my lifetime. Very common word, as is "sloppy". In fact, I'd connect it with sloppy in the sense of poor workmanship.

amdsn•1h ago

I remember slop, sloppa, etc. were frequently used terms on /ck/ (the cooking board) long before any nouns and adjectives were prepended to them. it is unfortunate that most 4chan lingo nowadays enters the mainstream via the /pol/ -> twitter human centipede, which usually means the words pick up a certain awful flavor from that board.

nephihaha•1m ago

Sloppy is extremely common, more so than slop.

JBorrow•45m ago

I’m not sure that’s an accurate description of the word’s entomology not least because “goyslop” is itself derived from… “slop”, which is low quality high-volume food for livestock.

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