It’s not just you. Oxford University Press, the publisher of the august Oxford English Dictionary, is also going a bit fuzzy between the ears. After digging through its enormous database, it has chosen “brain rot” — specifically, the kind brought on by digital overload — as its 2024 Word of the Year. It’s been quite a journey for “brain rot,” which triumphed over a shortlist of contenders including “lore,” “demure,” “romantasy,” “dynamic pricing” and “slop.” According to Oxford, its earliest known appearance was in 1854, in “Walden,” Henry David Thoreau’s classic account of moving alone to a cabin in the woods. “While England endeavors to cure the potato-rot,” Thoreau lamented, “will not any endeavor to cure the brain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?”

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Persons: It’s, “, “ Walden, ” Henry David Thoreau’s, ” Thoreau, ” Organizations: Oxford University Press, Oxford Locations: “, England