#587 | The Curious Tradition of Words of the Year

2026-01-01

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What do “truthiness”, “selfie”, and “goblin mode” have in common? In this episode, we'll see how Words of the Year are chosen, look at some of the most pertinent from history, and explore the winners of this year's prize. What "Word of the Year" means How dictionaries choose: data and expert judgement Sometimes a public vote decides the winner Common themes: politics, culture, technology, internet language 2005 "truthiness": feels true, not actually true 2013 "selfie": rise of phone photos of yourself 2016 "post-truth": ...

What do “truthiness”, “selfie”, and “goblin mode” have in common?

In this episode, we'll see how Words of the Year are chosen, look at some of the most pertinent from history, and explore the winners of this year's prize.

What "Word of the Year" means
How dictionaries choose: data and expert judgement
Sometimes a public vote decides the winner
Common themes: politics, culture, technology, internet language
2005 "truthiness": feels true, not actually true
2013 "selfie": rise of phone photos of yourself
2016 "post-truth": emotions beat facts in politics
2022 "goblin mode": lazy, messy, not sorry attitude
2025 "6 7": young people's meme with unclear meaning
Collins winner "vibe coding": using AI to write code

Full interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/2025-words-of-the-year

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Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية

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