Springfield’s Merriam-Webster looks to AI ‘slop’ as word of the year

SPRINGFIELD – If a weird-looking talking cat on the internet tells you to "touch grass" in a meandering congressional district, and then performatively sings the numbers "6-7," those are the words of 2025.

"Slop," a word describing digital content of low quality produced in quantity by artificial intelligence, is the 2025 Word of the Year, as announced Monday by Springfield dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster.

Slop is off-kilter advertising, shoddy propaganda — and was ubiquitous this year.

"All that stuff was dumped on our screens," said Greg Barlow, president of Merriam-Webster, "and the Word of the Year captured it in just four letters. The English language came through again."

Slop is joined by "touch grass," a term used insultingly, but also as an aspiration for people wanting to break their digital addictions, Merriam-Webster said Monday in a news release.

Also on the list is "gerrymander," which has its roots in Massachusetts and means to create election districts in a way that gives one political party an advantage. The preferred pronunciation is with a "J" sound, the dictionary says, although originally it was a hard "g."

This year, both major political parties created odd-looking districts that evoke the "salamander" in this word's origins, according to the release.

Also on the list was "performative," a word for a wide range of attention-getting behavior.

"Six seven" is the "hit Gen Alpha slang term of 2025," according to Merriam-Webster.

It means nothing in particular and is sometimes repeated in a sing-song voice. It tends to delight kids and frustrate everyone else.

Frustration was what Merriam-Webster felt when people started looking up Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg on its online dictionary.

Turns out, it's a word encountered in advanced modes of a hit spelling game on Roblox.

The lake on the border of Massachusetts and Connecticut is often noticed as the longest place name in the United States. But the dictionary folks say they are partial to its alternate name: Webster Lake .

Also on the dictionary-maker's list, and ripped from the headlines, are "tariff" and "conclave."

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