LONDON (AP) — Oxford University Press has named “rage bait’’ as its word of the year, capturing the internet zeitgeist of 2025.The phrase refers to online content that is “deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive,” with the aim of driving traffic to a particular social media account, Oxford said in a statement.“The person producing it will bask in the millions, quite often, of comments and shares and even likes sometimes,’’ lexicographer Susie Dent told the BBC. This is a result of the algorithms used by social media companies, “because although we love fluffy cats, we’ll appreciate that we tend to engage more with negative content and content that really provokes us.”>https://apnews.com/article/oxford-word-rage-bait-biohack-aura-farming-205cad01227a75198aaebdea02f6409b
Rage bait topped two other contenders — “aura farming’’ and “biohack’’ — after public comment on a shortlist compiled by lexicographers at Oxford University Press.“Aura farming’’ means to cultivate a public image by presenting oneself in “a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness or mystique.’’ “Biohack’’ is defined as “an attempt to improve or optimize one’s physical or mental performance, health or longevity.’’The word of the year is selected by lexicographers at Oxford University Press who analyze new and emerging words, as well as changes in the way language is being used, to identify words of “cultural significance.”Oxford University Press, publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, has selected a word of the year annually since 2004.Past winners include “podcast” in 2005, “emoji” in 2015, and in 2022 “goblin mode,” which described people who resisted returning to normal life after the COVID-19 pandemic.
>>1461730I'm pretty sure "rage bait" has been a thing for a few years now. I guess it's become more relevant since owning the libs became official US policy.
one part Rage Bait...two parts Psy-klops... what do you got? Soy boy goy slop%
They mad fr fr bruh
>>1461739They pretty much always pick words that have been around a while but have only recently become common vernacular, and also words that are culturally "relevant" in some way. It's notable (in a puff piece nothing-news bemusing sort of way) because they publish dictionaries. Here's some others from Oxford:>2021: vax>2022: goblin mode>2023: rizz>2024: brain rotHere's a google trends view of "rage bait", "ragebait", and "aura farming" (one of the other 2025 contenders) over the past 5 years.>https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&geo=US&q=rage%20bait,ragebait,aura%20farming&hl=en-USI find it interesting that the space-separated version is higher since I feel like I see it on here as a compound word the most and have for a long time. "Rage bait" as a term has been around a while, but it's clearly become much more common in the past year. I don't think that's an indicator that more rage bait is produced, but rather there's a growing awareness of the concept. Society at large seems to be awakening to the idea that people are intentionally producing content to make others angry just to grab their attention.Bonus, not from the article: Dictionary.com's word of the year is "6-7" lmao.
