#587 | The Curious Tradition of Words of the Year

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What do “truthiness”, “selfie”, and “goblin mode” have in common?

 

In this episode, we'll see how Words of the Year are chosen, look at some of the most pertinent from history, and explore the winners of this year's prize.

 

• What "Word of the Year" means
• How dictionaries choose: data and expert judgement
• Sometimes a public vote decides the winner
• Common themes: politics, culture, technology, internet language
• 2005 "truthiness": feels true, not actually true
• 2013 "selfie": rise of phone photos of yourself
• 2016 "post-truth": emotions beat facts in politics
• 2022 "goblin mode": lazy, messy, not sorry attitude
• 2025 "6 7": young people's meme with unclear meaning
• Collins winner "vibe coding": using AI to write code

Full interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/2025-words-of-the-year

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