Rizz, cheugy, and other terrible words to leave behind in the new year
2023 had a lot of terrible words and phrases. As we always do this time of year, let’s cast these terms into the past and never speak of them again in 2024.
The new year is a time to shrug off those things that weighted us down in 2023.
Unfortunately, 2023 had a lot of terrible words and phrases. As we always do this time of year, let’s cast these terms into the past and never speak of them again in 2024.
Rizz. This word — slang for romantic appeal or charm — was destined for shame even before it ended up on both Oxford’s and Merriam-Webster’s word-of-the-year lists. I’ve written before about how such lists are clickbait nonsense, a pseudo-tradition that’s far beneath the dignity of the august institutions that typically publish them. Their inane selection of rizz — a word bound to be forgotten — feels like Borat trying to master “not” jokes: endeavoring to explain slang that wasn’t funny or interesting to begin with. This is Philadelphia, where our “rizz” is a crumb bum whose statue was secreted away in the dead of night in 2020. From now on, if anyone’s talking about “rizz,” Gonzo better be involved.
Read the full column at Inquirer.com.