tony thorne

Should tech labels depend on consensus or decree?

Current concerns about AI agents‘ autonomy extend to their use of – and invention of – language Last week the Guardian‘s Technology Editor, Rob Booth, asked me about the characteristics of language shared by, or seemingly invented by AI.

A language update as the heat and drought recedes Summer’s geopolitical turmoils together with the highest temperatures on record have pushed discussions of linguistic and cultural innovation to the sidelines.

Language, Ideology and Zeitgeist Updates Much online discussion this year has addressed the baleful influence of the manosphere and incels on new language, and perhaps also on new attitudes and digital behaviour.

…and afterthoughts My un-asked for, scrambled words of the year for 2025 appear in the wordcloud above.

The Autumn Equinox, and time for the latest perspectives on slang and youth language in the Anglosphere… I‘m very grateful indeed for the latest data on the most popular slang terms – according to online searches – among younger people in the USA, provided

– of 2025 Back in December last year I wrote a second opinion piece on words of the year for the Conversation.

In 2018 I began collecting new and controversial language generated by the rise of conservative populism in the US and the UK, by pro- and anti-Trump sentiment in the US and by the divisions resulting from the UK’s Brexit vote.

A research portal for scholars, the press and the public The Slang and New Language Archive was created in 1994 while I was Director of the Language Centre at King’s College London.

A (nearly) new lexicon describes new attitudes to work I spoke last week to Financial Times journalist Emma Jacobs about so-called ‘Polygamous Working‘, part of the new vocabulary of the workplace generated by younger employees still coming to terms with a

youth slang crosses world englishes Last week I was interviewed by two young journalists about the pervasive slang generated by Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

more updates on 2025’s language landscape Once again, I’m very grateful indeed to Randoh Sallihall of Unscramblerer.com for sharing his data on language usage online.