The Oxford University Press - arguably the most prestigious observer and documenter of the English language - has announced its "Word of the Year" each year since 2004. The chosen word for this year, marking the 20th anniversary of the designation, was brain rot*, defined as
“the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration.”
Given the bubbling cesspool of of Fox News, X (formerly Twitter), and the rest of the right-wing hysteriosphere ... not to mention TikTok, Instagram, and the like, I'm not surprised. The OUP citation goes on to inform us that
"[the term refers] to low-quality, low-value content found on social media and the internet, as well as the subsequent negative impact that consuming this type of content is perceived to have on an individual or society."
One notices the truth of this observation in the results of the recent presidential election.
I also noted that one of the shortlisted alternate WOTY suggestions was dynamic pricing,** defined as
"The practice of varying the price for a product or service to reflect changing market conditions; in particular, the charging of a higher price at a time of greater demand."
Dynamic Pricing is more polite, less pejorative term for what we used to call price gouging. It does not reflect increased value for the amount charged, but the maximization of profit at the expense of the consumer ... which is, of course, the whole point of an unrestricted capitalist system. After all, when was the last time you saw a price go down as a result of dynamic pricing, eh? Insult is added to injury, of course, when dynamic pricing is combined with shrinkflation to result in higher prices for less product ... with the blame falling on inflation ... the convenient bugbear for whom no one is ever responsible.
If you voted for cheaper eggs last November, well, good luck with that. I think you're going to get a hard lesson in dynamic pricing on top of your brain rot.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow, when Great Moments in Editing and Signage returns for a new month.
Bilbo
* Yes, it's two words ... but who am I to argue with the Oxford University Press?
** Yes, yes, again it's two words ... inflation hits language, too.
4 comments:
Both are appropriate words for this miserable time in our current history.
"Brain rot" is a new term (at least, I'll take their word for that), but the concept isn't new. I can remember in pre-internet days when the standard opinion was that most of the stuff on TV (especially sitcoms and soap operas) was rotting people's brains, and before that it was comic books, and in the nineteenth century it was novel-reading (by women, at least). Each generation seems to despise the pop music of the generation that follows it.
There's always been a lowbrow element of culture and even information -- is the junk internet of today really any worse than the tabloids of decades ago, or the astrology columns, the popular garbage like von Däniken and Uri Geller and psychics and so on? Of course some people's brains seem to come pre-rotted, as it were, from the manufacturer, but that too has always been true.
I asked a grocery store manager why the price went up on a certain product. His answer, "That's one of our best sellers".
I also found that 2 five ounce Mac n Cheese costs less than a ten ounce box. Manager, "Yeah, there are 30 items in the store like that".
John: Sad, but true.
Infidel: "Brain Rot" isn't a new term, just a supremely timely one.
Mike: QED.
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