WORD OF THE YEAR FOR 2024 AND HYPHENATION
Oxford University Press, the publisher of the renowned dictionary OED, Oxford English Dictionary, recently announced its "word of the year" for 2024. The word is "brain rot," even though it consists of two words. This expression of the year is defined as: (n.) Supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration." This fixed expression or lexical unit is treated as one word. The problem arises with hyphenation: should it be "brain rot" or "brain-rot"? Hyphenation is falling out of favor in modern English, especially in informal or online discourse . Many compounds that once took a hyphen ( e-mail , on-line ) have lost it over time ( email , online ). Since brain rot emerged from internet slang, its unhyphenated form l...