WOTY?

Every year at this time arbiters in every genre name their best. Country entertainer? The Academy of Country Music gave the honor to Lainey Wilson. Book? Barnes & Noble plucked "The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store" off their bedside table. And on a smaller, though arguably more competitive stage, Dave Campbell's Texas Football website singled out DJ Lagway, the quarterback of the Willis High School Wildcats, as "Mr.Texas."

While the above look back and honor the standouts from the past twelve months, there are others that look forward, prognosticating those that will rise about the horizon. In SUV's, Motor Trend sees the Chevrolet Blazer EV as the car to have in 2024. American Girl named gymnast and horseback rider Lila Monetti as the "IT" girl doll of next year. And Pantone, the arbiter of all things color related, said the "Peach Fuzz" will rule the next calendar cycle, with one style critic noting that perhaps it is hoping to rachet down the rhetoric, and make 2024 a time "not for bold decisions, but for communicating a sort of vague pleasantness."

One of the most eagerly awaited pronouncements came from the Oxford Dictionary, and their Word of the Year, sometimes referred to as WOTY. Every year they choose a word that is "judged to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of that particular year and to have lasting potential as a word of cultural significance." As the dictionary that many consider to be the most historically authoritative, it carries a certain amount of gravitas. And so it was a bit of surprise that rather than go with one of the other finalists including "Swiftie" (an enthusiastic fan of Taylor Swift), "situationship" (a romantic or sexual relationship that is not considered to be formal or established) or "prompt" (an instruction given to an artificial intelligence program, algorithm, etc., which determines or influences the content it generates) the winner was "rizz."

A noun defined as "style, charm or attractiveness, or the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner," it is taken from the middle part of its parent "charisma." They note it's an usual way of forming a new word, though not unheard of, with other examples being "fridge" (refrigerator) and "flu" (influenza). As with many new ways of speaking, it was driven mainly in usage by a younger generation, personified by 27-year old actor Tom Holland ("Spider-Man" in three movies) who, when asked about his fame, answered "I have no rizz whatsoever, I have limited rizz."

The selection is not without its challengers. Dictionary.com went with "hallucinate," as in when chatbots produce false information as truth. Merriam-Webster chose "authentic" with the publication noting that it was not so much a new usage as the constant questioning of what really makes something – cuisine, voice, style, – authentic. And Collins went with two initials with no punctuation which have become the buzzword of technology and which some see as the next inflection point in everything around us, "AI."

And then there are those who have a stake in the matter. Food giant Kraft rolled out a marketing campaign pushing their Kraft Real Mayo product. Its central premise was to make "Moist" the WOTY. In a press release they said "Kraft Real Mayo is proof -everything is better ‘Moist.' Sadly, the internet hasn't always agreed. That's why we're hacking the Word of the Year competition by searching ‘Moist' as many times as possible, to redeem this polarizing-yet-velvety-smooth word." Thankfully, their pleas fell on dry ears.

Of course, all of those terms are English-centric, be they British or American. But it's a big world, and other regions and languages keyed into other trends and expressions. In a closely watched event in Kyoto, Japan, the top Buddhist monk at the Kiyomizu Temple used a brush to write the kanji character of the year on the temple balcony. It was "Zei" which translates as "taxes," reflecting a national interest in the country's economic situation. In Australia, some promoted "password child" as the winner, which refers to the kid seen as favored over his or her siblings because their name is used in the parents' passwords. And in Taiwan there is "Shan Dao Hou Zi" which translates as "Mountain Roadmonkey," referring to a motorcyclist who becomes an influencer. 

To be sure any choice is subjective, regardless of the field. Whether it's music or sports, food or fashion, one person's standout is another's also-ran. But no matter what word atlas you favor, with all that is happening in the world it would be hard to argue with the top dog in France. There, teens have adopted a catch-all answer in response to the question of "Quoi?" or "What?" When asked, the word most often on people's lips these days is "Quoicoubeh." While its etymology is in question, there's no mistaking its meaning: "Who knows?"

-END-

Marc Wollin of Bedford likes to learn new words, on a more than yearly basis. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.