Sept. 27, 2026
“Reply Guy” “Face Reveal” “Sponge City”: 6 Thousand New Words Added To Dictionary
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RSS Feed Dictionary.com announced that 5,900 new words were added to its website this year, including online slang, artificial intelligence developments, sustainability, global cuisine and health and psychology. They also added popular acronyms like, IYKYK: If you know, you know, and ELI5: Explain like I'm five. And then there’s of course, the most overused and annoying words of the year, like “moist” and ”like” that continue to top the list year after year.
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00:00:09
Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody. Are you hip to some of the new words added to dictionary.com? How about engagement bait, reply guy, lost in the sauce, glow up. These are just some of the 6,000 new words added to the dictionary. And with that, everyone, I'm Amy, that's TJ and welcome to Amy and TJ. I didn't know. I probably knew two of these words and they're kind of phrases actually.
00:00:40
Speaker 2: That's how we speak now, right?
00:00:41
Speaker 3: It's not just one word. It's acronyms and stuff, how we text. We just don't talk to each other anymore.
00:00:48
Speaker 2: We don't use our words anymore. We use shortened phrases. That's how we text. That's how we talk.
00:00:55
Speaker 1: It's almost like cute little breadcrumbs or something. You have to figure out what you're saying, or at least that's how it feels when you get to a certain age, I guess. But yes, dictionary.com announced 5,900 new words were added. With more than 1,200 revisions. So we're talking mostly this is coming from online slang. Some of it's coming from artificial intelligence development. So words that didn't exist before because the technology that they're describing didn't exist before. But yeah, it's fascinating to see how much the way we talk and the words we use changes from year to year. I'm always trying to catch up.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: Are we? I mean, 6,000, do they do this every year? We have that many?
00:01:38
Speaker 1: No, I don't believe. This is a huge dump of new phrases. And the only one on the list that I actually know, because it annoys me so much, because I hear all my kids. Sabine doesn't use it as much. Ava loves kiki. I'm kiki-ing. Do you know what kiki means?
00:01:54
Speaker 2: It's hanging out, isn't it?
00:01:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, gathering of close friends, especially to share the latest gossip. So if you're kiki-ing, You're sharing some tea, I guess. But yeah, that was the only one that I really actually had seen before. Engagement bait. Any idea what that is? I thought it was like to make yourself look good so that you could get a husband or a wife. I was wrong. Videos, text messages posted online to encourage comments, likes and similar reactions. So you're I guess it's like a thirst trap, but it's an engagement bait. Isn't it the same thing?
00:02:31
Speaker 2: Uh, it's not, I thought it had to do with getting married.
00:02:35
Speaker 1: Yes. Okay. Face reveal. It's kind of like what you would think the act, especially by an online content creator gamer of posting a photograph of their own face for the first time. So, you know, this person by their handle or something, and now you finally get to see their face if it actually is. Catfishing was a phrase a few years back that could be a part of that. All right. Reply guy. A man who responds to a woman's social media posts overly often and in an inappropriate manner.
00:03:10
Speaker 2: These have added to the dictionary?
00:03:12
Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay. Reply guy. Isn't that kind of crazy? How about this? Lost in the sauce.
00:03:19
Speaker 2: That's an old one, I thought.
00:03:21
Speaker 3: Yep.
00:03:22
Speaker 2: And it's just being added? Okay.
00:03:24
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:03:25
Speaker 2: That's a really old one.
00:03:26
Speaker 1: Right? I feel like that is too, but maybe what's old is new again. Clueless, confused, or in a fog. Exactly what you'd think. Now, I would have gotten this one completely wrong.
00:03:36
Speaker 2: Goated.
00:03:37
Speaker 1: Not goated with a D, which is where I guess my brain went. Goated with a T. All right. You know what it is? Want to take a guess?
00:03:44
Speaker 2: No?
00:03:44
Speaker 1: All right. Considered by many people to be the GOAT, the greatest of all time. So I didn't even know that was an adjective, but that's an adjective. Oh, I did know this one, glow up. And I bet you can guess what that is.
00:03:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hear that one all the time.
00:03:57
Speaker 1: I'm getting a glow up, a positive transformation. Often in appearance, but also in confidence. I'm glowing up. Some of these are a little strange, like in the... I think in the gaming world. So I don't think any of us will know what a Balrog or a Fanon is. No, a Balrog is a large evil monster associated with fire and shadow. It's so interesting that they feel like this needs to be added. And a Fanon is interpretations of and beliefs about a fictional world. How about Padawans?
00:04:37
Speaker 2: That's from Star Wars.
00:04:38
Speaker 1: Oh, really?
00:04:39
Speaker 2: Oh.
00:04:39
Speaker 1: And so do you know what it is?
00:04:40
Speaker 2: It's an apprentice of some kind. Yes.
00:04:44
Speaker 1: I am so impressed. That is an inexperienced person, particularly one being taught by someone more experienced.
00:04:52
Speaker 2: Okay, very cool. Every guy who's watched Star Wars knows that.
00:04:55
Speaker 1: Knows that a Padawan is? I had no idea what that was. All right, how about a context window?
00:05:04
Speaker 2: Mm-mm.
00:05:05
Speaker 1: The amount of text measured in tokens that a language model can process. Okay, this is AI stuff, and this is probably nothing that we're going to need to ever know, unless I guess we will at some point. We know what Love Bomb is. I love that that wasâ I explained this to you. Was it this year? You hadn't heard of it before.
00:05:24
Speaker 3: I hadn't heardâ well, I didn't know what the problem was with it until it was explained to me further.
00:05:30
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:05:30
Speaker 2: Because it sounds nice. Someone just showers you with love.
00:05:33
Speaker 1: Right? Who wouldn't want to be love-bombed? So, yes, it is a gushy display of affection, but often for the purpose of manipulation. I know you're going to know what this one is. It's funny. This is just now going into the dictionary. Trauma bond.
00:05:50
Speaker 2: These are... Social media, these are hashtag inventions, aren't they?
00:05:54
Speaker 1: So do you think the dictionary is doing this to try and bring in the young folk to start using dictionary.com, to start using the dictionary again?
00:06:01
Speaker 2: I mean, you know what?
00:06:04
Speaker 3: They are a part of our vocabulary now that we don't speak, right? I don't, so many of these words are, you're exchanging online. How much of this stuff are you saying face-to-face with somebody? Really, it sounds like we are, it's a whole new language. It's how to communicate when you don't want to communicate with somebody.
00:06:21
Speaker 2: In person.
00:06:23
Speaker 1: You just do hashtag trauma bond. But you know what? Honestly, I'm reading what they have as the definition of trauma bond. I thought trauma bond was when two people experienced trauma together and felt closer because of it. Isn't that what you thought it was?
00:06:36
Speaker 3: I thought it was just two people coming. It didn't have to be the same trauma. I just thought it was being, yeah, the same thing, being brought together because of some issue.
00:06:45
Speaker 1: Okay, that's not what this says. This says emotional bond that an abuse victim... feels towards the person who is abusive to them, particularly when periods of abuse alternate with periods of kindness or affection. I thought I did not, so maybe I've been using that word wrong.
00:07:04
Speaker 3: We should probably, they should add a second definition to that, because that has fully to do with being in an abusive relationship.
00:07:11
Speaker 1: Right. I did not, because I'm going to be careful now when I use that, like, oh, we trauma bonded. I'm not going to say that now. All right, green hushing. the practice of a company not reporting its sustainability efforts in order to avoid scrutiny, green hushing, um, sponge city. Don't know this type of urban planning model, which emphasizes the management of flooding and stormwater through green infrastructure. So these are new, what like city planning, um, phrases that are now entered into the dictionary. They have a few new cooking terms, but do you know what a quesadilla is? It's in Mexican cooking. A quesadilla, whose main filling, along with melted cheese, is beef cooked in the style of barilla. You know, I often go into... Restaurants on menus, and I have to Google the words anyway, so these new cooking terms are probably just more of me Googling terms. How about this one? Nasi lemak, a dish consisting of rice cooked with pandan leaves and coconut milk. So yes, a lot of this stuff is just either social media, a lot of AI stuff, some gaming stuff, and some cooking stuff. classes, I guess, that we could all take where we could learn what the ingredients are. But that's what some of the new words are. I think what's more interesting, some of the new acronyms that are out. These are the things that our kids are constantly texting back and forth. And I've even had to ask you, what is this? I actually knew a couple of these. Do you know what ELI5 is?
00:08:54
Speaker 2: I can't even put that together. It's not in front of me. So no, I don't even know what you said.
00:08:58
Speaker 1: All right. When we come back, we'll tell you what it means and all the other new acronyms that are now in the dictionary. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. Dictionary.com did not just add 6,000 new words this year. They also added some new acronyms. You're going to know this one. I-Y-K-Y-K.
00:09:27
Speaker 2: I can't see it in front of me, so I can't piece that together. If you know, you know.
00:09:31
Speaker 1: I think you know that one, right? Obviously, that is self-explanatory. Okay, the one that I teased before the break. E-L-I-5. Okay. Have you seen that one at all? I haven't either. Okay. Explain like I'm five. So kids or younger folks will put this back and forth to say, please give me a simple explanation for something you just said. ELI5. Never heard that. PFP. Profile picture, icon, or avatar. I have not heard that. This one, I would not have guessed. STBX.
00:10:09
Speaker 2: What's that?
00:10:10
Speaker 1: Soon to be X. So this is when folks are back and forth with one another, I guess, saying I'm about to break up with my husband, my wife, my boyfriend, my girlfriend, my spouse, or my partner. STBX, so just be on the lookout for that. If you are looking over your loved one's phone, that's a little scary. Wouldn't want to see that one. Any entries that you'd like in? I think, are there words that they exclude and take out of the dictionary every year because we're so sick of them?
00:10:39
Speaker 2: I bet they do. Things have become outdated. They just aren't a part anymore. Yes.
00:10:45
Speaker 1: Okay, outdated. But what about, I think, isn't there a list every year where they say the most hated words category? Like the most overused. They have this every single year, which I think is so funny. And I would like to know what the most hated word you have. Everyone has one. You don't have one?
00:11:03
Speaker 2: A most hated word?
00:11:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, like a word that you don't want anyone to say. Like people will use the word moist every year. Or panties. Or fetus. Like, people don't like those words. Do you have a word that you don't like?
00:11:15
Speaker 2: Probably. I can't think of anything at this moment. No, nothing. Those don't bother me.
00:11:19
Speaker 1: Okay, so apparently among the most annoying slang and overused words this year, according to a Marist poll, can you guess what the most overused or annoying word could be? No. No. You don't have an annoying word? No.
00:11:34
Speaker 2: I'm sure I do.
00:11:35
Speaker 3: Right now, annoying is the annoying word because you keep trying to get me to come up with something.
00:11:41
Speaker 2: I've got nothing off the top of my head. All right.
00:11:43
Speaker 1: Whatever. It's spent a decade now as the most annoying word in America because we did a story on this or an episode on the most passive-aggressive phrases you could use. I believe whatever topped the list. I think that's fair. That would be at the top of mine.
00:12:00
Speaker 2: It's a matter of how it's used. It's not the word itself. That's different.
00:12:03
Speaker 3: Just hearing the word is not upsetting, but usually there's hardly any time somebody uses it that it's positive, that it's going to be received positively.
00:12:12
Speaker 1: Whatever. Yeah.
00:12:13
Speaker 3: You can never use that. If there is a period at the end of that sentence, then there's a problem.
00:12:19
Speaker 1: That's a good way to put it. If it's used as a word and a sentence all in one, it's not a good time to use it. The other most annoying or overused word, this is pretty obvious, like. How many times, I actually have to work on it because you can slip into, I think girls tend to do this, but like, you know, like, like, you know, it's just like a filler because like I can't think of what like else to say like.
00:12:42
Speaker 3: It's, people pay attention when you're talking. You don't, you might not realize how you sound putting that word every, sometimes every three, four, five words in a sentence. And one of the guys on, what are we watching? Married at First Sight. You don't sound like you have enough words to express yourself. And you keep inserting like and just explaining everything that's happened in your life. You can't even say five words without trying to explain. She said this to me, but then I was like, no, baby, I don't even like that word. And then she was like, people do this.
00:13:22
Speaker 1: It is.
00:13:23
Speaker 2: Awful.
00:13:24
Speaker 1: It's so funny because they don't know they're doing it. Do they still have Toastmasters? When I was in college, it was the only kind of extracurricular group that I joined. And it was great because you would be forced. They would just call on you. You'd have to stand up and they'd tell you to talk about. your trip here, or tell us about what your morning routine is, just something general. And then they would count every like, every unnatural pause, every filler you shouldn't use. And it was so jarring to hear how you speak, especially when you're under pressure and you're nervous, you'll revert to all your bad habits. It is such an awesome organization. I said, um, they count ums too. It's an incredible organization. If you're ever having to get up in front of people, it really is great practice. You can play it at home, too. I just said um. Wow, now I'm so aware.
00:14:13
Speaker 2: I always wanted that game. I can talk and talk and talk.
00:14:19
Speaker 1: And never use an um or a like.
00:14:21
Speaker 2: Oh, like is not.
00:14:23
Speaker 1: No, I've never heard you say that. Actually, just seeing you or listening to you pretend to use it was hilarious. The other overused and annoying slang words, synergy and utilize and woke. Those totally make sense. Synergy is an annoying word. It just implies some sort of kumbaya or something.
00:14:46
Speaker 2: I hear that in business a lot.
00:14:47
Speaker 1: Synergy.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: Anytime they're trying to... They bring in new people, new managers... We are going to, this is a new era now. We are going to now have company-wide synergy through all of our affiliates. Yeah, we've heard that so many times.
00:15:02
Speaker 2: It's never worked.
00:15:03
Speaker 1: I was going to say, which means it's not working. If they're trying to talk about synergy, if they have to use that word, it means that no one likes each other and no one is working together well at all.
00:15:12
Speaker 2: 60-year-old company. Let's start on some synergy now.
00:15:16
Speaker 1: Oh, and woke, yes. I feel like woke is going to be up there for a while because now it's been weaponized. I believe, by this current administration. Okay, the most sound-triggered aversions. I knew moist, phlegm, pus, squirt, secrete. It's all about your bodily fluids leaving something.
00:15:36
Speaker 3: See, those you actually have, no matter how you use them, you're going to have a reaction to them. No matter what you're talking about, I was having dinner and all of a sudden my can started to secrete some of its liquid. Even if it's just a Diet Coke, it sounds awful.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: It's called word aversion and it actually provokes physical cringe is how it's described. But yes, words matter. And all of these new words in the dictionary, I guess, matter. I guess if you stay up with the trends, you'll know at least how your children are talking or at least when you're reading some of these I don't know, online things, you'll know what the hashtags mean, but that's where I'm always keeping up, always having to ask the kids or at least Google it, but thank God for Google. Don't know what we would do without it, but wanted to put those words, those phrases on your radar, everybody. Hope you're having a wonderful Sunday. We always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach along with TJ Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody. Are you hip to some of the new words added to dictionary.com? How about engagement bait, reply guy, lost in the sauce, glow up. These are just some of the 6,000 new words added to the dictionary. And with that, everyone, I'm Amy, that's TJ and welcome to Amy and TJ. I didn't know. I probably knew two of these words and they're kind of phrases actually.
00:00:40
Speaker 2: That's how we speak now, right?
00:00:41
Speaker 3: It's not just one word. It's acronyms and stuff, how we text. We just don't talk to each other anymore.
00:00:48
Speaker 2: We don't use our words anymore. We use shortened phrases. That's how we text. That's how we talk.
00:00:55
Speaker 1: It's almost like cute little breadcrumbs or something. You have to figure out what you're saying, or at least that's how it feels when you get to a certain age, I guess. But yes, dictionary.com announced 5,900 new words were added. With more than 1,200 revisions. So we're talking mostly this is coming from online slang. Some of it's coming from artificial intelligence development. So words that didn't exist before because the technology that they're describing didn't exist before. But yeah, it's fascinating to see how much the way we talk and the words we use changes from year to year. I'm always trying to catch up.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: Are we? I mean, 6,000, do they do this every year? We have that many?
00:01:38
Speaker 1: No, I don't believe. This is a huge dump of new phrases. And the only one on the list that I actually know, because it annoys me so much, because I hear all my kids. Sabine doesn't use it as much. Ava loves kiki. I'm kiki-ing. Do you know what kiki means?
00:01:54
Speaker 2: It's hanging out, isn't it?
00:01:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, gathering of close friends, especially to share the latest gossip. So if you're kiki-ing, You're sharing some tea, I guess. But yeah, that was the only one that I really actually had seen before. Engagement bait. Any idea what that is? I thought it was like to make yourself look good so that you could get a husband or a wife. I was wrong. Videos, text messages posted online to encourage comments, likes and similar reactions. So you're I guess it's like a thirst trap, but it's an engagement bait. Isn't it the same thing?
00:02:31
Speaker 2: Uh, it's not, I thought it had to do with getting married.
00:02:35
Speaker 1: Yes. Okay. Face reveal. It's kind of like what you would think the act, especially by an online content creator gamer of posting a photograph of their own face for the first time. So, you know, this person by their handle or something, and now you finally get to see their face if it actually is. Catfishing was a phrase a few years back that could be a part of that. All right. Reply guy. A man who responds to a woman's social media posts overly often and in an inappropriate manner.
00:03:10
Speaker 2: These have added to the dictionary?
00:03:12
Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay. Reply guy. Isn't that kind of crazy? How about this? Lost in the sauce.
00:03:19
Speaker 2: That's an old one, I thought.
00:03:21
Speaker 3: Yep.
00:03:22
Speaker 2: And it's just being added? Okay.
00:03:24
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:03:25
Speaker 2: That's a really old one.
00:03:26
Speaker 1: Right? I feel like that is too, but maybe what's old is new again. Clueless, confused, or in a fog. Exactly what you'd think. Now, I would have gotten this one completely wrong.
00:03:36
Speaker 2: Goated.
00:03:37
Speaker 1: Not goated with a D, which is where I guess my brain went. Goated with a T. All right. You know what it is? Want to take a guess?
00:03:44
Speaker 2: No?
00:03:44
Speaker 1: All right. Considered by many people to be the GOAT, the greatest of all time. So I didn't even know that was an adjective, but that's an adjective. Oh, I did know this one, glow up. And I bet you can guess what that is.
00:03:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hear that one all the time.
00:03:57
Speaker 1: I'm getting a glow up, a positive transformation. Often in appearance, but also in confidence. I'm glowing up. Some of these are a little strange, like in the... I think in the gaming world. So I don't think any of us will know what a Balrog or a Fanon is. No, a Balrog is a large evil monster associated with fire and shadow. It's so interesting that they feel like this needs to be added. And a Fanon is interpretations of and beliefs about a fictional world. How about Padawans?
00:04:37
Speaker 2: That's from Star Wars.
00:04:38
Speaker 1: Oh, really?
00:04:39
Speaker 2: Oh.
00:04:39
Speaker 1: And so do you know what it is?
00:04:40
Speaker 2: It's an apprentice of some kind. Yes.
00:04:44
Speaker 1: I am so impressed. That is an inexperienced person, particularly one being taught by someone more experienced.
00:04:52
Speaker 2: Okay, very cool. Every guy who's watched Star Wars knows that.
00:04:55
Speaker 1: Knows that a Padawan is? I had no idea what that was. All right, how about a context window?
00:05:04
Speaker 2: Mm-mm.
00:05:05
Speaker 1: The amount of text measured in tokens that a language model can process. Okay, this is AI stuff, and this is probably nothing that we're going to need to ever know, unless I guess we will at some point. We know what Love Bomb is. I love that that wasâ I explained this to you. Was it this year? You hadn't heard of it before.
00:05:24
Speaker 3: I hadn't heardâ well, I didn't know what the problem was with it until it was explained to me further.
00:05:30
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:05:30
Speaker 2: Because it sounds nice. Someone just showers you with love.
00:05:33
Speaker 1: Right? Who wouldn't want to be love-bombed? So, yes, it is a gushy display of affection, but often for the purpose of manipulation. I know you're going to know what this one is. It's funny. This is just now going into the dictionary. Trauma bond.
00:05:50
Speaker 2: These are... Social media, these are hashtag inventions, aren't they?
00:05:54
Speaker 1: So do you think the dictionary is doing this to try and bring in the young folk to start using dictionary.com, to start using the dictionary again?
00:06:01
Speaker 2: I mean, you know what?
00:06:04
Speaker 3: They are a part of our vocabulary now that we don't speak, right? I don't, so many of these words are, you're exchanging online. How much of this stuff are you saying face-to-face with somebody? Really, it sounds like we are, it's a whole new language. It's how to communicate when you don't want to communicate with somebody.
00:06:21
Speaker 2: In person.
00:06:23
Speaker 1: You just do hashtag trauma bond. But you know what? Honestly, I'm reading what they have as the definition of trauma bond. I thought trauma bond was when two people experienced trauma together and felt closer because of it. Isn't that what you thought it was?
00:06:36
Speaker 3: I thought it was just two people coming. It didn't have to be the same trauma. I just thought it was being, yeah, the same thing, being brought together because of some issue.
00:06:45
Speaker 1: Okay, that's not what this says. This says emotional bond that an abuse victim... feels towards the person who is abusive to them, particularly when periods of abuse alternate with periods of kindness or affection. I thought I did not, so maybe I've been using that word wrong.
00:07:04
Speaker 3: We should probably, they should add a second definition to that, because that has fully to do with being in an abusive relationship.
00:07:11
Speaker 1: Right. I did not, because I'm going to be careful now when I use that, like, oh, we trauma bonded. I'm not going to say that now. All right, green hushing. the practice of a company not reporting its sustainability efforts in order to avoid scrutiny, green hushing, um, sponge city. Don't know this type of urban planning model, which emphasizes the management of flooding and stormwater through green infrastructure. So these are new, what like city planning, um, phrases that are now entered into the dictionary. They have a few new cooking terms, but do you know what a quesadilla is? It's in Mexican cooking. A quesadilla, whose main filling, along with melted cheese, is beef cooked in the style of barilla. You know, I often go into... Restaurants on menus, and I have to Google the words anyway, so these new cooking terms are probably just more of me Googling terms. How about this one? Nasi lemak, a dish consisting of rice cooked with pandan leaves and coconut milk. So yes, a lot of this stuff is just either social media, a lot of AI stuff, some gaming stuff, and some cooking stuff. classes, I guess, that we could all take where we could learn what the ingredients are. But that's what some of the new words are. I think what's more interesting, some of the new acronyms that are out. These are the things that our kids are constantly texting back and forth. And I've even had to ask you, what is this? I actually knew a couple of these. Do you know what ELI5 is?
00:08:54
Speaker 2: I can't even put that together. It's not in front of me. So no, I don't even know what you said.
00:08:58
Speaker 1: All right. When we come back, we'll tell you what it means and all the other new acronyms that are now in the dictionary. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. Dictionary.com did not just add 6,000 new words this year. They also added some new acronyms. You're going to know this one. I-Y-K-Y-K.
00:09:27
Speaker 2: I can't see it in front of me, so I can't piece that together. If you know, you know.
00:09:31
Speaker 1: I think you know that one, right? Obviously, that is self-explanatory. Okay, the one that I teased before the break. E-L-I-5. Okay. Have you seen that one at all? I haven't either. Okay. Explain like I'm five. So kids or younger folks will put this back and forth to say, please give me a simple explanation for something you just said. ELI5. Never heard that. PFP. Profile picture, icon, or avatar. I have not heard that. This one, I would not have guessed. STBX.
00:10:09
Speaker 2: What's that?
00:10:10
Speaker 1: Soon to be X. So this is when folks are back and forth with one another, I guess, saying I'm about to break up with my husband, my wife, my boyfriend, my girlfriend, my spouse, or my partner. STBX, so just be on the lookout for that. If you are looking over your loved one's phone, that's a little scary. Wouldn't want to see that one. Any entries that you'd like in? I think, are there words that they exclude and take out of the dictionary every year because we're so sick of them?
00:10:39
Speaker 2: I bet they do. Things have become outdated. They just aren't a part anymore. Yes.
00:10:45
Speaker 1: Okay, outdated. But what about, I think, isn't there a list every year where they say the most hated words category? Like the most overused. They have this every single year, which I think is so funny. And I would like to know what the most hated word you have. Everyone has one. You don't have one?
00:11:03
Speaker 2: A most hated word?
00:11:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, like a word that you don't want anyone to say. Like people will use the word moist every year. Or panties. Or fetus. Like, people don't like those words. Do you have a word that you don't like?
00:11:15
Speaker 2: Probably. I can't think of anything at this moment. No, nothing. Those don't bother me.
00:11:19
Speaker 1: Okay, so apparently among the most annoying slang and overused words this year, according to a Marist poll, can you guess what the most overused or annoying word could be? No. No. You don't have an annoying word? No.
00:11:34
Speaker 2: I'm sure I do.
00:11:35
Speaker 3: Right now, annoying is the annoying word because you keep trying to get me to come up with something.
00:11:41
Speaker 2: I've got nothing off the top of my head. All right.
00:11:43
Speaker 1: Whatever. It's spent a decade now as the most annoying word in America because we did a story on this or an episode on the most passive-aggressive phrases you could use. I believe whatever topped the list. I think that's fair. That would be at the top of mine.
00:12:00
Speaker 2: It's a matter of how it's used. It's not the word itself. That's different.
00:12:03
Speaker 3: Just hearing the word is not upsetting, but usually there's hardly any time somebody uses it that it's positive, that it's going to be received positively.
00:12:12
Speaker 1: Whatever. Yeah.
00:12:13
Speaker 3: You can never use that. If there is a period at the end of that sentence, then there's a problem.
00:12:19
Speaker 1: That's a good way to put it. If it's used as a word and a sentence all in one, it's not a good time to use it. The other most annoying or overused word, this is pretty obvious, like. How many times, I actually have to work on it because you can slip into, I think girls tend to do this, but like, you know, like, like, you know, it's just like a filler because like I can't think of what like else to say like.
00:12:42
Speaker 3: It's, people pay attention when you're talking. You don't, you might not realize how you sound putting that word every, sometimes every three, four, five words in a sentence. And one of the guys on, what are we watching? Married at First Sight. You don't sound like you have enough words to express yourself. And you keep inserting like and just explaining everything that's happened in your life. You can't even say five words without trying to explain. She said this to me, but then I was like, no, baby, I don't even like that word. And then she was like, people do this.
00:13:22
Speaker 1: It is.
00:13:23
Speaker 2: Awful.
00:13:24
Speaker 1: It's so funny because they don't know they're doing it. Do they still have Toastmasters? When I was in college, it was the only kind of extracurricular group that I joined. And it was great because you would be forced. They would just call on you. You'd have to stand up and they'd tell you to talk about. your trip here, or tell us about what your morning routine is, just something general. And then they would count every like, every unnatural pause, every filler you shouldn't use. And it was so jarring to hear how you speak, especially when you're under pressure and you're nervous, you'll revert to all your bad habits. It is such an awesome organization. I said, um, they count ums too. It's an incredible organization. If you're ever having to get up in front of people, it really is great practice. You can play it at home, too. I just said um. Wow, now I'm so aware.
00:14:13
Speaker 2: I always wanted that game. I can talk and talk and talk.
00:14:19
Speaker 1: And never use an um or a like.
00:14:21
Speaker 2: Oh, like is not.
00:14:23
Speaker 1: No, I've never heard you say that. Actually, just seeing you or listening to you pretend to use it was hilarious. The other overused and annoying slang words, synergy and utilize and woke. Those totally make sense. Synergy is an annoying word. It just implies some sort of kumbaya or something.
00:14:46
Speaker 2: I hear that in business a lot.
00:14:47
Speaker 1: Synergy.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: Anytime they're trying to... They bring in new people, new managers... We are going to, this is a new era now. We are going to now have company-wide synergy through all of our affiliates. Yeah, we've heard that so many times.
00:15:02
Speaker 2: It's never worked.
00:15:03
Speaker 1: I was going to say, which means it's not working. If they're trying to talk about synergy, if they have to use that word, it means that no one likes each other and no one is working together well at all.
00:15:12
Speaker 2: 60-year-old company. Let's start on some synergy now.
00:15:16
Speaker 1: Oh, and woke, yes. I feel like woke is going to be up there for a while because now it's been weaponized. I believe, by this current administration. Okay, the most sound-triggered aversions. I knew moist, phlegm, pus, squirt, secrete. It's all about your bodily fluids leaving something.
00:15:36
Speaker 3: See, those you actually have, no matter how you use them, you're going to have a reaction to them. No matter what you're talking about, I was having dinner and all of a sudden my can started to secrete some of its liquid. Even if it's just a Diet Coke, it sounds awful.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: It's called word aversion and it actually provokes physical cringe is how it's described. But yes, words matter. And all of these new words in the dictionary, I guess, matter. I guess if you stay up with the trends, you'll know at least how your children are talking or at least when you're reading some of these I don't know, online things, you'll know what the hashtags mean, but that's where I'm always keeping up, always having to ask the kids or at least Google it, but thank God for Google. Don't know what we would do without it, but wanted to put those words, those phrases on your radar, everybody. Hope you're having a wonderful Sunday. We always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach along with TJ Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.