Editor's Corner

Good morning, and happy (almost) New Year!

It is my annual tradition to share the Merriam-Webster word of the year with you when we reach the end of December; this year is no different. I’ve been waiting to see what the different English dictionaries come up with for a few weeks now. You may be familiar with some of these that I covered in earlier episodes of Editor’s Corner, like parasocial and 6 -7. Other winners that I haven’t covered (but will cover soon) are vibe coding and rage bait. But the winning word from Merriam-Webster this year? Slop. From M-W:

Slop

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen slop as the 2025 Word of the Year. We define slop as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” All that stuff dumped on our screens, captured in just four letters: the English language came through again.

The flood of slop in 2025 included absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks pretty real, junky AI-written books, “workslop” reports that waste coworkers’ time… and lots of talking cats. People found it annoying, and people ate it up.

“AI Slop is Everywhere,” warned The Wall Street Journal, while admitting to enjoying some of those cats. “AI Slop Has Turned Social Media Into an Antisocial Wasteland,” reported CNET.

Like slime, sludge, and muck, slop has the wet sound of something you don’t want to touch. Slop oozes into everything. The original sense of the word, in the 1700s, was “soft mud.” In the 1800s it came to mean “food waste” (as in “pig slop”), and then more generally, “rubbish” or “a product of little or no value.”

In 2025, amid all the talk about AI threats, slop set a tone that’s less fearful, more mocking. The word sends a little message to AI: when it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes you don’t seem too superintelligent.

I can’t argue with their conclusion—I complain about slop a lot. I just tend to use a different “s” word. But I also admit to sending someone this AI cat photo just yesterday:

And then there are those Instagram videos of puppies and kittens in the kitchen with the Italian chef making little pizzas, being told that they need to work harder because, “This is not a daycare!” Here is a short Christmas version: working puppies (just click X on the Never miss a post message).

In the weeks to come, I will share some of the other words of the year with you. Until then, have fun, stay safe, and limit the slop!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

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