This past weekend, the American Dialect Society selected "rawdog" as its Word of the Year for 2024. While this slang term is vulgar in origin, the ADS points out that "rawdog" has crossed over into the mainstream:
"While the word originated as a vulgar slang term referring to having sex without a condom, rawdogging ended up crossing over into mainstream usage for a wide variety of activities, like the travel trend in which a passenger sits through a flight without any distractions."
The conference took place in Philadelphia this year, and English Professor Anne Curzan was there. This week on That's What They Say, Curzan gives us a rundown on the winners from various categories, including "Most Creative," "Most useful," and "Most Fun While it Lasted."
To hear more about this year's vote, listen to the audio above. You can find a complete list of this year's winners here.
