Merriam-Webster dropped its latest batch of new words this week, and somewhere a 52-year-old copy editor felt a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of English teachers suddenly cried out in terror.
Among the fresh additions: "skibidi," "tradwife," and "greedflation." Yes, the same dictionary that once dignified "erudite" has now formally welcomed a word that originated from a YouTube video of a singing Italian toilet head.
The reaction online was exactly what you'd expect.
Half of X (formerly Twitter, which nobody calls it) posted "this is why Rome fell," while the other half fired back that language has always evolved and that being mad about it is the most boomer thing imaginable.
Both sides are right, which is the worst possible outcome for everyone.
Let's be clear about what's actually happening here.
Merriam-Webster isn't endorsing "skibidi" as high art.
Their entire job is to document how people actually talk, not how your ninth-grade English teacher wished they talked.
If millions of people say a word, it goes in the book.
The dictionary is a mirror, not a bouncer at the VIP section of vocabulary.
The tradwife entry is the one generating the most think pieces, because of course it is.
Nothing says "I have a strong opinion about gender roles" quite like a dictionary quietly defining a term and then getting dragged by literally everyone.
Meanwhile, "greedflation" got added, which means economists now have an official word for when companies blame inflation while posting record profits.
Here's the part nobody wants to admit: you already use words your grandparents thought were trash. "Okay" was once considered a joke. "Teenager" didn't exist until the 1940s. "Email" sounded like a typo.
Every generation panics about the same thing, and every generation is wrong, and we keep doing it anyway because panicking about young people is apparently the one tradition that never gets canceled.
So yes, the dictionary now contains "skibidi." Your grandkids will probably use it in a eulogy for you and mean it sincerely.
The English language is a chaotic, ungovernable swamp, and the sooner we accept that, the sooner we can all go back to arguing about pineapple on pizza, which is a fight that actually matters.
Language is a living thing that refuses to sit still and behave, and anyone clutching pearls over a toilet meme getting official status needs a hobby.
Final Thoughts
Also, if "skibidi" is in the dictionary now, I fully expect "rizz" to get a parade, and I will not be taking questions.