Every year the same pantomime repeats: a handful of self-appointed language guardians announce their “Words of the Year” and the media treats it like a national emergency. This season’s parade of picks — Merriam‑Webster’s “slop” (announced December 14, 2025), Oxford’s “rage bait” (December 1, 2025), Dictionary.com’s baffling choice of “67” (October 28, 2025), and Collins’s More