If you noticed a lot of extra junk clogging up your feeds and the internet in general this year, you're not the only one. This onslaught of low-effort, mass-produced AI-generated content is exactly what inspired the American Dialect Society to choose "slop" as its 2025 Word of the Year.
The term may sound familiar. “AI slop” was a contender in the Society’s 2024 vote, where it ultimately lost out to “rawdog.” But in 2025, the phrase came back leaner, shedding the “AI” qualifier altogether. Now, “slop” stands on its own as a catchall for the internet’s most disposable content. It comes as no surprise that it also won the category for digital word of the year.
“Slop isn’t a new word. It has moved from the pigsty, to the algorithm, and now forms new compounds such as sloppunk, slopification, and friend slop. This productivity has no end in sight,” said Dr. Kelly Elizabeth Wright of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The American Dialect Society's 36th annual words of the year vote took place in New Orleans, and Professor Anne Curzan was in attendance. To hear her thoughts on this year's winner, as well as the winners in other categories, including "most creative word of the year," "political word of the year," and "most likely to succeed," listen to the audio above.
A list of all of this year's winners is available here.
