The Sigma Alpha gained aura after rizzing all Skibidi toilets in Ohio that have had knee surgery. While you may not understand the meaning behind this sentence, a large percentage of Generation Z not only understands it, but likely could annotate and break down the meaning better than they could for classics such as The Great Gatsby, or To Kill a Mockingbird.

Oxford defines Brain rot as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of online media.” Oxford University Press has officially declared ‘Brain rot’ as the 2024 word of the year. Brain rot was first used as a term to show concern about people consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content. According to Oxford University Press, the usage of the term increased 230% between 2023 and 2024.

When interviewing English teachers at ADM High School about what their opinions were on brain rot being selected as the word of the year, a variety of responses were received. Ms. Bedard and Mrs. Knipper both expressed that English is one of the only languages that develops and changes over time. They both feel as though this word is very fitting of the time in which we are now. Mrs Knipper stated, “I find the way English changes over time fascinating in a very nerdy way.” Ms. Bedard also claimed she felt as though the word is extremely representative and makes sense for this year.

One teacher, Ms. Landin expressed that she is actually thrilled brain rot is the word of the year. She explained that in her classroom they have actually used brain rot terms to dissect and understand the novel Hamlet. She said, “The students actually seemed to understand it better when I used those terms.” She also believes that the reason she might be a little biased towards it is because she is on brain rot TikTok herself. She is a younger teacher, recently out of college, and she said, “I think it might be a little easier for me to understand it compared to some teachers since I actually see it online.” Overall, she is a big supporter of 2024’s Word of the Year.

Mrs. Longman and Mrs. Johnson expressed similar opinions to each other. Neither one of them is pleased with the word of the year. Mrs. Longman says she believes the fact that it was chosen as the word of the year shows that people see how non-intellectual the word is, and recognize that it is not beneficial to use the related language. Mrs. Johnson says she felt extremely disappointed that this was the word chosen. She thinks that the words need to encompass or highlight the true fascination with words in the English language.

Based on the teacher’s responses within our school district, it still seems to be a hot debate: “Does Brain Rot deserve to be the 2024 word of the year?”