Brain ROT is the Oxford dictionaries’ word of the year.
Oxford University Press said Monday that the evocative phrase “
gained new prominence in 2024,”
with its frequency of use increasing 230% from the year before.
Oxford defines brain rot 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.”
The word of the year is intended to be
“a word or expression that reflects a defining theme from the past 12 months.”
“Brain rot” was chosen by a combination of public vote
and language analysis by Oxford lexicographers.
It beat five other finalists: demure, slop, dynamic pricing, romantasy and lore.
While it may seem a modern phenomenon,
the first recorded use of “brain rot”
was by Henry David Thoreau in his 1854 ode to the natural world, “Walden.”
DEAR EVERYONE: BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER IF YOU WANT TO. (!!!) LOVE, ESTHER
Thank you for informing me that my fellow Concordian, HD Thoreau, coined the term "brain rot." Here's the reference according to NPR:
"In Walden, Thoreau used the term as he railed against oversimplification. He asked, "Why level downward to our dullest perception always, and praise that as common sense? Thoreau ended that paragraph with another question: "While England endeavors to cure the potato-rot, will not any endeavor to cure the brain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?"
I’m sure I have it!!!