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\n Cambridge Dictionary<\/a> has named its word of the year<\/a> for 2025, alighting on \u201cparasocial<\/a>,\u201d used to describe a connection that people feel with someone they don\u2019t know \u2013 or even with an artificial intelligence.\n <\/p>\n \n The term was coined in 1956 by sociologists Donald Horton and Richard Wohl, who wanted to describe how television viewers formed \u201cpara-social\u201d relationships with TV personalities, the dictionary said in a statement Tuesday.\n <\/p>\n \n This phenomenon continues today, as social media users form parasocial relationships with celebrities, influencers and online personalities with whom they have no personal connection.\n <\/p>\n \n A key example cited by Cambridge Dictionary is singer Taylor Swift, who announced her engagement to NFL star Travis Kelce this year, with many fans talking of their heartfelt feelings toward a couple that the vast majority had never met.\n <\/p>\n \n Another is British singer Lily Allen, whose latest album \u201cWest End Girl\u201d tells the story of a breakup and sparked a \u201cparasocial interest in her love life,\u201d according to the statement.\n <\/p>\n \n And use of the term has surged this year, particularly as concerns over the connections that some people have started to develop with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT have come to the fore.\n <\/p>\n \n Colin McIntosh, a lexicographer at the Cambridge Dictionary, said the word \u201ccaptures the 2025 zeitgeist\u201d and demonstrates how language changes.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhat was once a specialist academic term has become mainstream,\u201d he said in the statement.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cMillions of people are engaged in parasocial relationships; many more are simply intrigued by their rise,\u201d McIntosh added.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe language around parasocial phenomena is evolving fast, as technology, society and culture shift and mutate: from celebrities to chatbots, parasocial trends are fascinating for those who are interested in the development of language,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Simone Schnall, Professor of Experimental Social Psychology at the University of Cambridge, said in the statement that the word \u201cis an inspired choice.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe rise of parasocial relationships has redefined fandom, celebrity and, with AI, how ordinary people interact online,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe\u2019ve entered an age where many people form unhealthy and intense parasocial relationships with influencers,\u201d Schnall added.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis leads to a sense that people \u2018know\u2019 those they form parasocial bonds with, can trust them and even to extreme forms of loyalty. Yet it\u2019s completely one sided.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Cambridge Dictionary also highlighted a number of other words that it said have had a \u201csignificant impact\u201d this year.\n <\/p>\n \n Among their number is \u201cslop,\u201d defined as \u201ccontent on the internet that is of very low quality, especially when it is created by artificial intelligence,\u201d as well as \u201cmemeify,\u201d or \u201cto turn an event, image, person, etc. into a meme.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n And the dictionary added 6,000 new words this year, with notable newbies including \u201cdelulu,\u201d \u201cskibidi\u201d and \u201ctradwife.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n London \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Cambridge Dictionary has named its word of the year for 2025, alighting on \u201cparasocial,\u201d used to describe a connection that people feel with someone they don\u2019t know \u2013 or even with an artificial intelligence. The term was coined in 1956 by sociologists Donald Horton and Richard Wohl, who wanted to describe how television … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/\u2018Parasocial-named-Cambridge-Dictionarys-word-of-the-year-2025.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10275,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10273\/revisions\/10275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n London<\/span>
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"