CBC Trendsguy Jason Osler wonders aloud if the English language is eroding or evolving<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n Dictionary.com declaring \u201c6-7,\u201d “the classic brainrot slang\u201d that\u2019s “purposefully nonsensical\u201d as its 2025 word of the year, is more meaningful than it seems, according to some linguists.<\/p>\n Critics of the pick say it represents an erosion of the English language, however, \u201cif you’re adding something [to language], how can that be eroding,\u201d said linguist Nicole Rosen.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have a prescriptivist view of how language is supposed to be used, maybe you would think that,\u201d Rosen, head of the University of Manitoba\u2019s linguistics department, told CBC Radio columnist Jason Osler.\u00a0<\/p>\n Explaining its own pick, Dictionary.com described the term as \u201cmeaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical.\u201d But its perceived lack of meaning is perhaps the point, some linguists say. Ai Taniguchi, a linguistics professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga, says meaning is just one function of language \u2014 it also conveys details about one\u2019s identity.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLanguage is not just about these truth conditional meanings and figuring out what’s true or false in the world, but finding a sense of who you are and expressing that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Taniguchi says \u20186-7\u2019 connects insiders, particularly young people, to a shared experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI find it interesting how people conceptualize meaning and why people get so bothered about the fact that [\u20186-7\u2019] carries social meaning above all,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not really used to communicate anything literal as much as you\u2019re indicating an in-group status with other people. Like [saying,] \u2018I\u2019m among the group of people who use this word.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Taniguchi says her generation’s version of \u201c6-7\u201d was 420, which is rooted in marijuana smoking culture.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the clock hits 4:20 or you see any allusion to 420, when someone says 420, they chuckle because you’re indicating to other people that you know what 420 is and what it alludes to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Kelly Elizabeth Wright says \u201c6-7\u2019s\u201d lack of concrete meaning means \u201cit can be used in different communities successfully.\u201d For example, elementary school students, basketball fans, and even politicians.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wright is the lead editor of the Among the New Words section of the journal American Speech.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what’s interestingly new about [the \u201c6-7\u201d trend] is that it’s visible. It’s spread in the present. It’s spreading online, so more young people are able to get it and engage with it really quickly,” she said.<\/p>\n But Wright suspects young people\u2019s use and satisfaction with “6-7” may also fade because of its ubiquity.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBecause everyone is talking about it, young people aren’t going to use it anymore. It doesn’t have the social cachet that it needs, that it was created for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n 6-7 is showing up everywhere … even Parliament<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Rachel Bendayan, MP for Quebec\u2019s Outremont, got in on the 6-7 trend during question period. Canada added 67,000 jobs in October, beating economists\u2019 expectations and nudging the unemployment rate down to 6.9 per cent.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n However, conversations about the meaning of words and negotiating them helps push language forward, Wright added.<\/p>\n \u201cI love tracking the data from year-to-year and looking at these trends. It’s so fascinating to know what people are saying, what words they think are important.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben Zimmer, chair of the American Dialect Society (ADS) New Words Committee, says the value of the word of the year exercise is examining how different cultures at different times are talking.<\/p>\n \u201cThe words act as a marker and can help linguists and other researchers understand when they\u2019re asking deeper questions about language and communication,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Canadian English Dictionary is publishing its first new general dictionary in decades. Unsurprisingly, \u201celbow\u2019s up\u201d and \u201cmaple washing\u201d are on the shortlist for its word of the year.<\/p>\n Zimmer noted \u201ctariff-fied\u201d was nominated as an ADS word of the year in 2024 amid U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s initial threats of tariffs. But now that tariffs have been implemented and the economic impacts have been felt globally, “tariff-mageddon” has become a major talking point, he explained. <\/p>\n He expects words related to artificial intelligence (AI) will dominate this year’s nominations.<\/p>\n According to Zimmer, these are two examples of language developing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s not just something that’s trapped in amber. It’s something that’s dynamic, constantly changing. We’re trying to keep track as best as we can of those shifts over time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Taniguchi says it\u2019s encouraging that the word of the year creates opportunities for conversations about language as a whole. She says talking about talking is a very human experience that highlights a diversity of perspectives.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully word of the year can act as this opportunity for people to channel curiosity into conversations about understanding other cultures, other languages, other people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n LISTEN | Dictionary.com’s 2025 Word of the Year…6-7: Columnists from CBC Radio3:37Dictionary.com has dubbed SIX SEVEN as the Word of the Year. CBC Trendsguy Jason Osler wonders aloud if the English language is eroding or evolving Dictionary.com declaring \u201c6-7,\u201d “the classic brainrot slang\u201d that\u2019s “purposefully nonsensical\u201d as its 2025 word of the year, is more … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13437,"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-13436","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\/12\/6-7-doesnt-mean-anything-Linguists-say-thats-the-point.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13436","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=13436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13438,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13436\/revisions\/13438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Youth and linguistic trends<\/h2>\n
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<\/div>\nDefining the moment<\/h2>\n
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