While you were busy scrolling through TikTok and arguing about pineapple on pizza, the good folks at Merriam-Webster were quietly — okay, not quietly, they made an announcement — dropping 690 brand-new words into the official lexicon.
And let me tell you, some of these additions are absolutely unhinged.
We're talking words that sound like they were cooked up in a group chat at 3 AM.
Words that make you question whether the English language is thriving or spiraling.
But here's the thing nobody's mentioning — the dictionary isn't just a book anymore.
It's a LIVING, BREATHING BEAST that evolves faster than your iPhone updates.
Every time you say "rizz" or "mid" or "it's giving," you're basically casting a vote for what becomes official English.
That's right — YOU are a lexicographer now.
Your group chats are basically academic conferences.
The folks at Merriam-Webster track millions of word usages every single day.
When a term starts showing up everywhere — social media, news articles, your aunt's Facebook posts — they pounce.
Your grandchildren will look it up for a spelling bee someday.
If nobody uses a word for long enough, it gets the boot.
It's like survival of the fittest, but for vocabulary.
Some words that have been axed in recent years? "Snollygoster" (a corrupt politician — honestly, we might need that one back). "Frush" (to break or crush). "Mumpsimus" (a stubborn person who refuses to admit they're wrong — sound like anyone you know?).
Meanwhile, words like "bussin" and "sus" are getting the red-carpet treatment.
Here's what the dictionary companies don't want you to think about too hard: they're not just recording language.
Deciding what's "real" English and what's just noise.
That's an incredible amount of power sitting in an office in Springfield, Massachusetts.
We check the dictionary to settle arguments.
The dictionary is basically the Supreme Court of words, and we just accept its rulings without question.
Maybe the next time someone says "that's not a real word," you should remind them that NO word was real until enough people said it. "Selfie" was gibberish in 2005.
Now it's in the dictionary. "Google" was a misspelling of "googol." Now it's a verb worth billions.
Language belongs to the people who speak it.
So the next time you drop a new slang term and someone rolls their eyes, tell them you're not being lazy — you're being LINGUISTIC.
You're shaping the future of human communication.
You're basically Shakespeare with a Wi-Fi connection.
And right now, that mirror is showing us a culture that moves fast, laughs loud, and refuses to be told what's proper.
Final Thoughts
Words are free, and the best ones haven't even been invented yet.