{"id":44968,"date":"2025-12-05T23:14:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T19:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=44968"},"modified":"2025-12-05T23:14:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T19:14:53","slug":"2025-word-of-the-year-oxford-follows-cambridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/2025-word-of-the-year-oxford-follows-cambridge\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Word of the Year: Oxford follows Cambridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

London Letter<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Cambridge\u2019s choice reflects a global hunger for connection. Oxford\u2019s reflects the fatigue of constant provocation. Between them lies the emotional landscape of our time<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

By Shyam Bhatia<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Oxford University Press has followed Cambridge Dictionary\u2019s lead by releasing its own linguistic snapshot of the year. Just weeks after Cambridge named \u201cparasocial\u201d as its 2025 Word of the Year \u2014 referring to the one-sided emotional bonds people develop with influencers, live streamers and even AI chatbots \u2014 Oxford has chosen a very different term: \u201crage bait,\u201d the label for online content crafted to make users erupt in anger.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>Cambridge Dictionary has crowned ‘parasocial’ as its Word of the Year 2025. Pic – ELT NEWS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Oxford Languages says use of the phrase has tripled over the past year, a sign of how outrage has become a dependable digital currency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oxford defines rage bait as material that is \u201cfrustrating, provocative or offensive,\u201d circulated to drive traffic to websites or social-media accounts. Anyone who spends time online has encountered it: discussion threads derailed by a single incendiary post, videos cut to inflame tempers, or opinions shaped not to inform but to annoy. A headline stripped of context, a remark edited for maximum irritation \u2014 the formula is now familiar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Algorithms reward whatever produces the biggest emotional jolt, meaning irritation often travels farther and faster than information. The internet, once driven by curiosity, now increasingly thrives on provocation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, sees this as part of a wider shift. \u201cBefore, the internet was focused on grabbing our attention by sparking curiosity in exchange for clicks,\u201d he said. \u201cBut now we\u2019ve seen a dramatic shift to it hijacking and influencing our emotions, and how we respond.\u201d He describes this as \u201ca natural progression\u201d in a society shaped by powerful technologies and a \u201ccycle\u201d where anger produces engagement, engagement boosts inflammatory posts, and users eventually feel drained.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two other shortlisted terms \u2014 \u201caura farming\u201d, meaning the careful cultivation of a cool or enigmatic online image, and \u201cbiohack\u201d, the trend of using diets, supplements or devices to improve one\u2019s performance \u2014 highlight the pressures of self-presentation and optimisation that have coloured digital life in 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

The contrast with Cambridge\u2019s selection, \u201cparasocial\u201d, is revealing. Cambridge defined that word as a one-sided emotional relationship that a fan might feel toward someone they have never met \u2014 a phenomenon magnified by the explosion of content creators, podcasters and AI-generated personalities. Psychologists note that these relationships can comfort or inspire, but they also blur the line between public performance and private intimacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seen together, \u201cparasocial\u201d and \u201crage bait\u201d map two opposing emotional currents shaping life online. One works by simulating closeness: the YouTuber confiding their insecurities, the podcaster who feels like a weekly companion, the AI assistant offering personalised reassurance. The other works by provocation: videos engineered to stir political anger, sarcastic posts designed to derail debate, or opinions intended solely to unsettle. Comfort and conflict \u2014 the two dominant strategies for capturing attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mauritius offers clear illustrations of both trends.<\/span><\/p>\n

Local influencers such as lifestyle vloggers, food reviewers and TikTok entertainers command intensely loyal followings. Many Mauritian creators \u2014 whether sharing recipes, beauty tips, Rodrigues travel guides or sega remixes \u2014 cultivate deeply familiar parasocial bonds. Their audiences speak of them almost as extended family: the \u201cdidi\u201d who shares daily routines, the \u201cbhai\u201d demonstrating home workouts, the teacher-figure giving revision advice to Form V and VI students.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, Mauritian social media has become increasingly vulnerable to rage-bait dynamics, especially around politics and community issues. Edited clips of National Assembly debates often circulate without context, drawing hundreds of heated comments within hours. Posts about fuel prices, Metro Express delays, or school admissions frequently go viral in ways that reward anger over accuracy. During recent Rodrigues and election campaigns, a single provocative video \u2014 sometimes anonymous, sometimes AI-generated \u2014 was enough to steer online discussion for days. Much of this content is amplified by recommendation algorithms rather than by any organised campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

What makes 2025 noteworthy is the growing public awareness of these emotional manipulations. That two major dictionaries have chosen words describing different forms of digital influence suggests a widening recognition of how deeply technology shapes our emotional lives. Oxford\u2019s earlier winners \u2014 \u201cselfie\u201d, \u201cgoblin mode\u201d, \u201crizz\u201d \u2014 captured passing moods. But the pairing of \u201cparasocial\u201d and \u201crage bait\u201d points to something more structural: the psychological wiring of online experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether these words endure is uncertain. But the behaviours they describe seem here to stay. Outrage is quick, cheap and instantly shareable; simulated intimacy is comforting and easily automated. Both are profitable in an economy driven by clicks and engagement spikes.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the year draws to a close, Cambridge\u2019s choice reflects a global hunger for connection. Oxford\u2019s reflects the fatigue of constant provocation. Between them lies the emotional landscape of our time \u2014 a world of imagined bonds and manufactured conflicts, including in small island societies like Mauritius.<\/span><\/p>\n

London, December 2, 2025<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 5 December 2025<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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