Phrase craze

Tom is worried about his rizz. He wants the world to see him and Megan as a couple, but they are stuck in a situationship which is as exhausting as a heat dome. Is there a beige flag that is putting her off? Has he been trying to deinfluence her too much by complaining about greedflation? Maybe his feelings about her are parasocial. If only he could find the courage - and words - to ask her!

On Monday the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) named "rizz" as its word of the year. This is supposed to be the word or expression whose popularity best reflects the preoccupations of the last 12 months - and which is also likely to last.

Sometimes it is an old word which has been given new significance: the OED's shortlist included the noun "prompt", now used to mean an instruction given to an AIA computer programme that has been designed to think.  programme. Sometimes it is a word which has been around for a few years, but has suddenly come to the fore - like "AI" itself, which tops a rival list from Collins Dictionary. But the most interesting words are coinages, or new inventions.   

"Rizz" won its position largely through social media: as a TikTok hashtag it has had billions of views.¹ The YouTuber and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat is credited with popularising it.

The word is believed to be an abbreviation of "charisma". As well as a noun meaning "romantic appeal" it can be used as a verb: "rizz up", for example, means to attract, seduce or chat someone up.

According to the OED's Casper Grathwohl, it reflects the fact that "more of us are opening ourselves up after a challenging few years and finding confidence in who we are".

The USA's oldest dictionary, Merriam-Webster, chose "authentic" as its word of the year, on the grounds that the line between real and fake has become increasingly blurred. Australia's Macquarie Dictionary chose "cozzie" - short for "cost-of-living crisis." The Cambridge Dictionary chose "hallucinate" in the new sense of AI getting its facts wrong.

According to Global Language Monitor, an American organisation, around 5,400 new English words are created every year - though under 20% of them catch on.² Not surprisingly, many of them are invented by writers. These are known as "authorisms".

Shakespeare came up with many brilliant coinages, including "swagger", "assassination", "critical" and "bedazzled". Milton was also prolific, with 630 words attributed to him³ - "earth-shaking," "lovelorn," "fragrance", "terrific" and "pandemoniumComplete chaos or disorder. " among them.

Chaucer is responsible for "approach" and "universe", Ben Jonson for " rant" and "petulantChildish and bad-tempered.", John Donne for "valedictionThe act of saying goodbye. " and "self-preservation" and Sir Thomas More for "anticipate" and "fact".

Among novelists we have George OrwellReal name Eric Arthur Blair, a world-renowned 20th-century novelist, most famous for his political novels Animal Farm and 1984. to thank for "doublethinkBelieving two contradictory things at the same time. " and "thought police", Jospeh Heller for "Catch-22", William Gibson for "cyberspace" and Horace Walpole for "serendipity."

Should we all invent new words?

Yes: The English language is constantly evolving and the more we contribute to it the richer it will be. Every generation has a different view of the world and our vocabulary should reflect that.  

No: Almost everything can be described by the words we already have. You need to have a real gift for coinages, like Milton: many of today's, such as "selfie" and "mansplaining", are incredibly feeble.  

Or... We should devote ourselves instead to reviving brilliant old ones which have fallen into disuse. "Philanthrobber", meaning a tycoon who gives to charity but cheats the public, is an example.