“Slop” is Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2025, meaning more people than ever need to “touch grass,” which, as it happens, is also one of the 194-year-old dictionary’s top words of 2025.
“We define slop as ‘digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence,'” Merriam-Webster’s editors wrote in explaining their pick. “All that stuff dumped on our screens, captured in just four letters: the English language came through again.”
Of course, “slop” is intrinsically tied not just to internet culture but to video games too. Knowyourmeme pegs the introduction of “slop” into our common vernacular around 2023, with its popularity starting to increase in 2024. (Google Trends data corroborates this.) “Slop” is, of course, regularly used in reference to everything from AI-created imagery to Cava food bowls, but gamers might be more familiar with its attribution to a growing trend.
In particular, “friendslop” games — low-budget games that tend to focus on cooperative gameplay in an effort to generate viral social media clips — had a moment in 2025. Games like Peak, REPO, and RV There Yet? attained serious popularity this year. (Peak even nabbed a Game Awards nomination.) But “friendslop” is by no means an insult. Whereas “slop” is derogatory, “friendslop” is complimentary. These games are often light in tone, and offer a means of connection for a society that’s
Elsewhere in the dictionary’s picks, “touch grass” popped up. Merriam-Webster attributed its ascent to a Sept. 12 address from Utah governor Spencer Cox, who was speaking in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder. But anyone who’s played online games will tell you it’s been a popular insult on the internet since at least the days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rounding out Merriam-Webster’s biggest words of 2025 is a term popularized in Roblox, “Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg,” which can reportedly show up in the Spelling Bee game. (It’s a real place in Massachusetts, by the way. The locals call it Webster Lake.)
If you ask me, Merriam-Webster’s picks this year are pretty six seven. I’m using that correctly, right?
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Author: 360 Technology Group
