Words of the Year 2023

All of the guilty parties will be here on our countdown -- and we even hear that a few words might "flip"? -- so follow the fun throughout the month!

December 31:

P01135809

This is not the first time alpha-numeric characters have made our annual countdown of Words of the Year. For example, "BB-8" made our list in 2015, "TRE45ON" made our list in 2018, and "COVID19" made our list in 2019 -- among others -- but this is the first time an alpha-numeric entry has earned our top spot!

Jail records in Georgia show former twice-impeached & four-time indicted "President" and Imperial Grand Wizard Donald Trump was placed under arrest and booked at the Fulton County jail last August. He was booked as inmate No. P01135809.

Pictured at the right: Inmate P01135809

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

FIRST: I believe this is the first time we've included a word that should NOT be our countdown. No, the press keeps using the word "first" associated with Imperial Grand Wizard Trump's indictments and arrests -- that he is the FIRST "President" indicted and arrested; however, at this point in our nation's history, they should use the word ONLY. He is the ONLY "president" ever indicted and arrested.

DISGORGEMENT: "Disgorgement" is a remedy requiring a party who profits from illegal or wrongful acts to give up any profits they made as a result of that illegal or wrongful conduct -- and now as Imperial Grand Wizard Trump's civil fraud trial in New York has concluded this month, the outcome could decide the fate of his business empire -- he could face disgorgement! We can only hope! LOL!

DICTATOR ON DAY ONE: Imperial Grand Wizard Trump is now openly and blatantly running on a promise to terminate the US constitution, destroy our democratic republic, and become a "Dictator On Day One." I will say, the progression from "MAGA" to "DODO" is beyond accurate.

December 30:

Are you old enough to remember "New Coke"?

In the late 1900s, Coca-Cola had been losing market share to diet soft drinks and non-cola beverages for several years -- so the company reworked the "formula" for their soft-drink, and in 1985 they re-introduced the product as "New Coke." It was renamed Coke II in 1990 and discontinued in July 2002. Hello again, Old Coke!

This past year, Twitter experienced a similar reformulation: Melon Husk bought the company, allowed for the proliferation of hate speech and misinformation, and even considered re-instating the account of Imperial Grand Wizard Donald Trump. Soon after his purchase, he renamed the social media platform "X."

I deleted my account early on in Husk's tenure with the company (I'm now on CounterSocial and LOVING it) -- so Twitter became my "EX."

Pictured at the right: Melon Husk serves up a dead bird.

Pictured below on the left: Twitter users flee Twitter and make "X" their "EX." Buh bye, Melon Husk!

December 29:

INDICTED
INDICTED
INDICTED
INDICTED

Throughout Imperial Grand Wizards "presidency," the word he most often uttered was "FORE! " -- and that's because he was on the golf course more than he was actually engaging in any type of "work."

"Work." LOL.

Now, the word for Trump is FOUR: Four indictments -- and I hear a fifth could be on the way?

TBH, the only reason he's even running again is because he hopes that his candidacy can stall his four trials -- and IF the electorate is stupid enough to hand him the keys to the candy store again, he'll pardon himself as he sets up his FORE-th Reich -- a return to the golf course to begin taking swings at American Democracy and establishing a dictatorship.

"Here," he'll bark at Lady G on the first hole, "hold my balls."

December 28:

BENEFITS

Florida Governor Ron DeSatan intensified his efforts this past year to de-emphasize the truth in his state's public school curriculum by arguing that Black people benefited from being enslaved.

Hmm...seems that he must agree with Thomas Jefferson's outlook that enslaved workers were just friends with benefits.

HONORABLE MENTION:

SLAVERY: In this case, the Honorable Mention here, the word "slavery," was not ever spoken.

Nope, it went unsaid by Nikki Haley, GQP candidate for US Dictator, when asked about reasons for the Civil War. Instead, she hemmed & hawed about states' rights & individual rights (as those who seek to whitewash our history always do).

Does she even understand the irony of choosing to speak about "individual rights" when the GQP is stripping them away from us? Probably not, because she later said a "Democratic plant" asked the question that tripped her up. HE LOBBED HER AN EASY QUESTION FOR ANYONE TO ANSWER -- and she could not speak the simple truth. And what is that?

"Truth" is the GQP's kryptonite!

December 27:

WOKE

Did you happen to catch the recent interview of GQP slug Kevin McCarthy where he said something like, "If you look at the Democrats in Congress you see America. If you look at the Republican side, it looks like an exclusive country club for old white men." Yet he helped to lead the other spineless GQP slugs in demonizing the side where you see America, the very side who he and other right-wing nut-jobs claim is infected with "wokeness," a virus "more dangerous than any pandemic."

What does it mean to be "woke"?

According to the lead attorney for Florida Governor Ron DeSatan, "woke" means "the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them."

That's right -- the radical, conservative Right KNOWS that there are injustices in our society -- but they have no desire to address them! They want a return to the "good old days" of rampant, blatant racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and more. They want to "make America great again" by keeping it an exclusive club for old white men.

December 26:

KARMA

"For those asking about my statement on the indictment of Donald Trump," tweeted Yusef Salaam, one of the five New York teens wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for the 1989 rape of a jogger in Central Park, "who never said sorry for calling for my execution—here it is: Karma."

December 25:

TENNESSEE THREE

Democracy dies in Tennessee -- and democracy is dying anywhere the GQP is voted into power.

ast spring, the "Tennessee Three" was a trio of Tennessee Democrats who were subject to expulsion votes over a gun reform protest which the state's RepubliQans claimed countered their rules of decorum -- even though GQP members remained in office after they had committed heinous acts in the chamber (including one member who urinated in another legislator's chair). The GQP ousted the two African-American democrats and saved the white one. Go figure, huh?

HONORABLE MENTION:

NO JUSTINS, NO PEACE: The two African-Americans expelled from the Tennessee House by the state's GQP members were both named "Justin" -- Justin Jones & Justin Pearson -- so the saying "No Justins, No Peace" that grew out of the GQP's malfeasance was a play on "No Justice, No Peace."

December 24:

CATASTROPHIC IMPLOSION

No, "catastrophic implosion" did not make our list as a descriptor of Imperial Grand Wizard Trump's administration as "president." No, sadly, it made our list due to the actual catastrophic implosion of the Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate, on its expedition to view the wreckage of the Titanic.

December 23:

VERMIN

BREAKING NEWS: Imperial Grand Wizard Trump has chosen his running-mate for the 2024 Presidential election -- IF he secures the GQP nomination -- and that name is Adolf Hitler.

Yep. At rallies these days the twice-impeached four-times-indicted criminal has used the language of Hitler in an attempt to connect with his racist followers.

"We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country," said the MAGA Con Man.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

POISONING THE BLOOD: Imperial Grand Wizard Trump is using more of Hitler's propaganda by accusing immigrants of "poisoning the blood" of America. Hmm...does he not realize that he and his family are immigrants? And what about the former porn-star Third Lady -- isn't she an immigrant too? He right about that, though: The Trump family is poisoning our county and society.

MUTANTS: Imperial Grand Wizard Trump has also referred to the true patriots who are fighting to save our democracy as "mutants."

December 22:

BARBENHEIMER

Our “Name of the Year” is Barbenheimer, the portmanteau of two film titles, Warner Brothers’ Barbie, a fantasy-comedy about the doll, and Universals’ Oppenheimer, the epic biographical thriller about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientific director of the Manhattan Project. Both we released simultaneously this past July

December 21:

DARK BRANDON

We'll announce our "Name of the Year" for 2023 tomorrow -- but for now -- here's our "Name of the Year" runner up: Dark Brandon.

Who's "Brandon," you ask?

Well, I suspect that many if not most of you know who "Brandon" is -- but if not, check our 2021 "Words of the Year" countdown, HERE, and scroll down to the entry for December 19.

The term “Dark Brandon” first surfaced in early 2022; however, at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner last April, President Biden donned sunglasses and referenced the persona of Dark Brandon, and the audience cheered wildly.

Then last Fall Biden joined Trump's "Truth Social": “Well. Let’s see how this goes. Converts welcome!” he tweeted with
a profile image with red glowing eyes -- again, a reference to “Dark Brandon.”

“There’s very little ‘truth’ happening on Truth Social, but at least now it’ll be a little fun,” a Biden official said, adding that the president hoped to combat “mis- and disinformation.”

December 20:

DEMONIC FORCE

Back in April, Imperial Grand Wizard Trump sat with Tucker Carlson for an interview billed as “historic” by Fox “News.” It was the first time the twice-impeached former “president” and ongoing con-artist gave an interview since becoming the only US “president” to be charged with crimes.

Carlson was ridiculed on social media for the interview just months after his leaked text messages revealed he hated the Imperial Grand Wizard “passionately” – and in a text to his producer about the January insurrection, Carlson called Trump a “demonic force.”

December 19:

PRESIDENT FRAUD

Oops! Lawyer Brian Claypool went on Fox "news" to make some silly rant about Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s case against Imperial Grand Wizard Donald Trump when he made a very telling gaffe: "There's no question about it he wants to humiliate President Fraud", he said.

Pictured at the right: Imperial Grand Wizard Trump, aka President Fraud, enters a courtroom in New York for his trial about his -- what else -- fraud.

HONORABLE MENTION:

SCIF: A SCIF is a sensitive compartmented information facility, a place used to process sensitive compartment information (SCI) types of classified information -- the very type of info and documents stolen from the US government by President Fraud so that he could pass it on and/or sell it to our adversaries. When his crimes were made public, President Fraud asked the government to recognize Nightmare-a-lago as a SCIF so that he couldn't be held liable for having the stolen documents in his shittin' room.

Pictured at the left: Imperial Grand Wizard Trump's "Presidential Library" at Nightmare-a-lago.

December 18:

GIRL DINNER

A minimal-effort meal trend labeled “girl dinner” took over TikTok this year. Info is HERE.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

GIRL MATH: "Girl math" was a social media trend this year where women humorously detailed their thought processes to justify how they spend their time, spending habits, purchases, etc. Then came "boy math."

BOY MATH: "Boy math" made the scene a little later in the year, and it was a bit more brutal as it was all about pointing out and making fun of men's hypocritical habits and behaviors. AOC even got into the trend by taking a dig at Kevin McCarthy.

SILENT WALKING: Silent walking was another TikTok trend this past year. It involves walking without any distractions, such as looking at your phone or listening to music.

December 17:

CHAT GPT

We are at an interesting crossroads in human history as the advances in Artificial Intelligence are intersecting -- if not colliding -- with real stupidity.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

REAL STUPIDITY

And...it turns out that "Artificial Intelligence" is the pick for "Word of the Year" by Collins Dictionary -- info on their choice (along with their "shortlisted words") is HERE.

Of course, as you now know by reading this post, "ChatGPT" made our list!

From Wikipedia: "ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched on November 30, 2022. Based on a large language model, it enables users to refine and steer a conversation towards a desired length, format, style, level of detail, and language. Successive prompts and replies, known as prompt engineering, are considered at each conversation stage as a context. By January 2023, it had become what was then the fastest-growing consumer software application in history, gaining over 100 million users...."

ChatGPT is a powerful AI chatbot that is quick to impress, yet plenty of people have pointed out that it has some serious pitfalls -- along with serious ethical concerns. For additional info, click HERE and HERE.

December 16:

SELF-

Because I could not stop for AI
It kindly stopped for me.
The simulation carried just ourselves
And unreality.

NOTE: The pic at the right is from zdnet.com, HERE.

Hmm...I'm not sure if I'm totally satisfied with the final word in that stanza above, so perhaps I'll revisit it soon; however, I'll admit that the advances I'm hearing about in Artificial Intelligence are just downright scary -- and they've also landed a couple of words on my annual countdown of the Words of the Year, the first being the word "self" when hyphenated as part of a compound word:

SELF-SERVICE, SELF-CHECKOUT: Perhaps the most common way we all interact with AI is through self-service kiosks and self-checkout lines -- though I hear mega-corps like Walmart, Target, and others are thinking about re-vamping the entire system due to significant increases in shoplifting.

SELF-DRIVING: Self-driving cars aren't just on-the-way -- they're here! I rented a car that was literally self-driving when I engaged the cruise control. Self-driving deliveries for Domino's Pizza made the news this year -- and of course, self-driving features made the headlines Tesla recalled millions of cars due to issues with the company's autopilot software.

Then there are the words related to AI itself:

SELF-LEARNING (through SELF-PLAY and SELF-REFLECTION), SELF-IMPROVING; until we reach a day when AI becomes SELF-AWARE (and AI "beings" become our overlords)?

Get ready for the age of "Me, Myself, and AI."

December 15:

COFFEE BADGING

Now that we seem to be past the worst of the COVID pandemic, remote and/or hybrid workers have been asked to return to work -- and therein lies the new trend of "coffee badging."

I've heard TWO different descriptions of this. With one, employees come to work and show face, maybe grab a coffee and talk among coworkers. Then, after a little while, they leave and therefore earn a theoretical badge for showing up.

In the other, workers show up to work, use their key badges to access/enter the building (i.e., "badging"), grab some coffee, chat with coworkers, and then depart.

December 14:

QUIET CUTTING

The latest outgrowth of the "quiet quitting" movement (see last year’s WotY list, HERE, and scroll down to the entry for December 16), is "quiet cutting," a corporate strategy that effectively allows companies to cut jobs and trim costs without actually laying off workers. Info is HERE and HERE.

December 13:

GREEDFLATION

Studies show that greedflation, or corporate profiteering, significantly boosted global prices in the past year or so. Multinationals in particular hiked prices far above rise in costs to deliver an outsize impact on the cost of living crisis.

Here's a person example: I fell out of my chair when I received the bill for my homeowners insurance last month. The increase was well over 65%. Sooo...I Google-searched info on the CEO of Travelers Insurance and found that he earns 1.3 million per year -- AND -- he received a bonus last year of 6.8 million dollars. AND THEY WANTED TO INCREASE MY AMOUNT BY SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT???

Forget that, Travelers! I dropped you like a hot potato, as they say -- AND -- I canceled my Geico insurance bundled with it for my car as well (and I'd been a loyal customer of theirs for YEARS). They can take their corporate greed elsewhere!

AAA came to my rescue (shoutout to my local rep, Fran)! I cannot tell you how much moolah I saved -- AND -- I have better policies to boot! ; )

Buh bye, Travelers. Buh bye, Geico.

By the way -- remember those high prices we all paid at the gas pump a year ago? Check out those companies RECORD PROFITS based upon their price gouging!

December 12:

DYNAMIC PRICING

I found this on the Interwebs: "Dynamic pricing is product pricing based on various external factors, including current market demand, the season, supply changes and price bounding."

In short, it's price gouging.

Movie theaters, like airlines, are now charging more for "premium seating." Grocery stores charge more for pumpkin spice muffins in the fall compared to the price for their blueberry or banana nut muffins. Parking garages up their prices by 500 to 800 per cent or more when Taylor Swift's in town for a concert.

Pictured above/right: The new pricing model for AMC theaters includes higher prices for "preferred sightlines" and some dollars off from "value seating" (i.e., a partially obstructed view).

NOTE: "Dynamic Pricing" is related to but different from an FYT ('Fuck You Tax"). I encountered an FYT this past weekend when I parked in a lot in my downtown area -- and I received "one hour of free parking" for 35 cents. Another common example of an FYT is when you order event tickets online and have to pay a "convenience fee." Convenient for whom?

December 11:

GLOBAL BOILING

"A recent headline read, "Hottest July ever signals ‘era of global boiling has arrived’ says UN chief"

Sing along with me:

It's gettin' hot in here (So hot)
So take off all your clothes (Ayy)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

HEAT DOME: Over a 141 million people in the U.S. were under heat alerts this past August as a dangerous heat dome lingered over a major swath of the Midwest, South and Southwest. The map above at the right shows air temperatures modeled at 2 meters (6.5 feet) above the ground at about 3 p.m. Central Time on August 23, 2023.

HATE DOME: The Fascists in the GQP are unstable, full of hate and bigotry, and boldly threatening violence should the election produce defeat for Trump in 2024 -- and Grand Imperial Wizard Trump himself is promising an authoritarian dictatorship if he wins. A Hate Dome is forming over the entire country!

HURRIQUAKE: As Hurricane Hilary was impacting Southern California this past August, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck near Ojai, northwest of Los Angeles. I saw a post online that read, "Didn't expect to sit down from dinner prep to see *checks notes* "Hurriquake" trending."

CLIMATE ANXIETY: The concept of Climate Anxiety, distress about climate change and its impacts on the landscape and human existence. is not new; however, as we face more and more climate catastrophe tipping points (info HERE), more and more people suffer from it! Info on Climate Anxiety is HERE.

December 10:

CONCERNING

Here's the timeline:

July 5, 2023: Meta launched Threads (see below for our WotY entry for December 9).

July 5, 2023: Mark Zuckerberg tweeted on Twitter (now X) for the first time in a decade to mark the launch of Threads. He posted the Spider-Man meme at the right.

Yada, yada, yada.

July 9: Melon Husk calls Zuck a "cuck" and challenges him to a dick measuring contest. See below.

Later that day: Zuckerberg took another jab at Melon Husk on Threads by commenting "concerning," along with a crying laughing emoji, appearing to reference the way the X-Man often tweets (he has responded to tweets with the word "concerning" at least 26 times).

Merrily we troll along! ; )

December 9:

THREADS

Welcome to the FiberVerse! (Or should I say "Welcome to FiberSpace"?)

Not long after Melon Husk purchased Twitter and allowed hate speech and misinformation to take over the site, many users jumped ship when, in early July, Meta's Instagram launched Threads, their text-based conversation app.

And what do Threads users say about the new platform? "Sew far, sew good" -- and some say "It will leave you in stitches." Although I think they're still trying to figure out what to call a "tweet."

December 8:

PERFORMATIVE ALLYSHIP

Also known as "Woke-Washing," Performative Allyship was in full force this past year as companies and corporations attempted to show solidarity with various groups and causes -- only to back-track to appease conservative crazies who want to eradicate the "diseased" vermin (LOL -- the GOP terminology) who belong to and/or show genuine support of the group or cause.

One prominent example: This past May, Target removed some of its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide just at the start of Pride month "after intense backlash from some customers who confronted workers and tipped over displays." For more info, click HERE.

December 7:

BANNED

The Don't Tread on Me crowd -- i.e., the toads and turds in the GOP -- have been busy this year fighting for various bans. They're banning books, banning language, banning thought, banning history, and banning rights. LOL -- then they complain about "Cancel Culture." Go figure!

Pictured at the right: The GOP formulating finalizing their platforms items for elections in 2024.

December 6:

**UPROARIOUS LAUGHTER**

Okay, so technically not a "word" of the year -- but certainly a communication of the year!

When Marjorie Traitor Greene (R-Ga.) was presiding over the House chamber last May, she banged her gavel and called for decorum -- and the floor broke out into uproarious laughter! Belly laughs for a clown! FOR INFO, CLICK HERE.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

DECORUM: "Decorum" is a word that toads in the GOP hide behind when they're deep into the destruction of our democracy. In Tennessee, GOP toads used the word as their defense for expelling two of three Democrats after they took part in a protest against gun violence on the floor of their chamber (they ousted two African-American members and spared a white one). Interestingly enough, many on the GOP side had actually committed heinous acts -- for ex: one had urinated in another member's chair -- and none were expelled or cited for "lack of decorum."

IJBOL: Move over "LOL" and "ROFL," there's a new way to express laughter online: IJBOL, for "I just burst out laughing."

December 5:

RIZZ

I just booted up my computer to post the WotD (Word of the Day) for December 5, and lo and behold, I see a headline that is quite serendipitous: After more than 32,000 votes, and a team of language experts, Oxford’s Word of the Year 2023 is...

**drum roll**

Read all about it HERE.

Also, just FYI: I checked out their "short list" for 2023 (HERE), and one of the four words will appear later in the month on my list. #justsaying

December 4:

KITARA RAVACHE

One of our contenders for the 2023 Name of the Year would have to be Kitara Ravache, a drag queen who competed in Brazilian beauty pageatns -- and who was just expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives! Ms. Ravache was expelled from congress along with Anthony Zabrovsky, Anthony Devolder, and Geroge Santos.

Pictured below, left to right: George Santos, Anthony Zabrovsky, and Anthony Devolder.

Pictured above: Kitara Ravache

December 3:

** BLEEP ** (The word choice for December 3rd had to be bleeped out.)

An offensive t-shirt on sale at Walmart has went viral after multiple customers pointed out a rude mishap that was present in the design. A user on Twitter shared a picture of the green t-shirt at the supermarket with a very recycling-positive attribute to it. The shirt featured a large RE, with the other side featuring the words ‘cycle', ‘use', ‘new', and ‘think'. As it turns out, despite the uber-positive message put up on the t-shirt, it was observed that it had inadvertently spelled out quite a rude word.

December 2:

"YOU CAN'T SEE ME" HAND GESTURE

A play on a WWE taunt popularized by wrestler John Cena that's accompanied by the phrase "You can't see me" made its way to social media, basketball courts and elsewhere where opponents are vanquished when -- just moments after winning the national title -- LSU's Angel Reese made the gesture toward opponent Caitlin Clark.

FOR INFO, CLICK HERE.

December 1:

TRANSPHOBIC

When Dylan Mulvaney, an actor and social media influencer who is transgender, posted a short clip from her partnership with beer brand Bud Light to Twitter, it didn't appear any more controversial than the many other influencer "spon con" posts that happen on any given day.

However, the radical right-wing conservative crazies went nucking futs! FOR INFO, CLICK HERE.

HONORABLE MENTION:

TRANS-SLENDER: "I’m quite chubby, but I identify as skinny."

Check out last year's countdown by clicking the button to the right:

WotY 2022