We’re on a rapid collision course with the end of the year once again, which means we’re approaching Word of the Year season! That time of the year when we take lexical-stock and decide on a word* that seems to encapsulate something of the year that has been.
*see our blog post on Why is the Word of the Year often made up of two words?
The process is the same every year: a longlist is compiled, reviewed and scored by the Macquarie editors and a faithful Committee. They meet, decide on the word they think encapsulates the year. Then, they are sworn to absolute secrecy as the ball is thrown to you, the people. Voting is only open for one week, before both winners are announced.
Only three times have the public and the Committee been in harmony, in almost twenty years of defining the Word of the Year. The first time was in 2015 with captain’s call and again in 2021 with strollout. Then, last year, the People’s Choice and the Committee again aligned and crowned enshittification, a term describing ‘the gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided’, as the Word of the Year. Despite its (perhaps controversial) inclusion of an unsavoury word, it emerged as the word both our Committee and the general public considered as encapsulating 2024. What of 2025? It would be unprecedented if the choice is harmonious twice in a row! The choice is yours, people. Voting opens soon, so keep an eye out!
‘But wait, the words!’ you ask? Those of you who’ve been following our monthly Words to Watch blog will have a head start on choosing your favourites, having already read some discussion about our potential contenders.
As a recap:
February: we’re trying not to awfulise the disappearance of the fun airfryer nickname: the millennial microwave. Unfortunately, February’s words haven’t made the cut this year. We’re still giving them honourable mention here, though.
March: we considered doing some sleep tourism at medical facilities offering a cuddle bed for relatives and family to be close to patients in palliative or maternity care.
April: we tiptoed around the black elephant of the broligarchy while we laughed with gen beta about adding a fart walk to our daily routine.
May: we imagined up the next bestselling femgore tale featuring a reformed tradwife fuming over the medical misogyny resulting in an unwanted Ozempic face that she’s pinning on the impotent members of the kakistocracy.
July: we wondered about sanewashing efforts and whether they’ve bluepilled or redpilled people into conspiratorial camps.
August: we took a moment to identify our almond mum who might be contributing to our Sunday scaries and leading us to crash out from the stress of it all.
September: we lightened the load and looked at some newly lexicalised compounds: bird-dogging and bathroom camping being two of our favourites.
There you have it. A sneak-peak into some of the words on our longlist for the Word of the Year 2025. Keep those eyes peeled for when voting opens and have your say! Think we’ve missed something vital? It’s not too late to suggest a word for us to consider for the longlist!
