27/05/2026
While traditional dictionaries crown heavy, tech-driven terms like "parasocial" and "rage bait", teenagers have taken over the lexicon with "six-seven", a nonsense slang term and inside joke deployed near-exclusively to subvert adult seriousness.
This contrast highlights a fascinating shift in modern lexicography. While algorithms drive our mainstream vocabulary toward digital anxiety, youth culture fights back with deliberate, joyful absurdity.
A brilliant read from The Guardian on generational gaps, the Mona Lisa spot of the linguistic museum, and the chaotic evolution of English.
Some might regard this slang as ‘brain rot’, but the first word of the year just for tweens and teenagers could be the most hopeful development of 2025, says writer and podcaster Coco Khan