From Skibidi to Tradwife, Cambridge Dictionary Embraces Viral Lingo in Latest Update

The first headline I read today was, mercifully, not another grim update on the death toll in Gaza, nor a new set of numbers from the eternal showdown between Rahul Gandhi and the Election Commission of India. No, today’s top story was far from serious. In fact, it was so unserious that I briefly considered renouncing my literacy altogether.

Because you see, the world is no longer teetering on the edge due to war, climate change, or global economic despair. No, it’s teetering because a particular, more chaotic offshoot of regular Gen Z, the Gen Ultra have successfully plucked a word out of thin air (or somewhere less polite), and now, to the horror of linguistic purists everywhere, that word has been added to the Cambridge Dictionary.

Yes, Skibidi is now officially part of the English language. Not a typo. Not a fever dream. This glorified keyboard smash is apparently a word.

Now, I’ll admit—I’m a bit of a language snob. I like my words with actual meanings, preferably some etymology, and at least a passing acquaintance with grammar. But instead, we now have Skibidi—a term that means anything, nothing, or possibly something in between, depending on the attention span of whoever’s using it.

What's the definition? Well, Skibidi can mean “cool,” or “bad,” or it can mean absolutely nothing at all. It’s essentially a wildcard for your brain cells. The dictionary gives a sample sentence: “What the skibidi are you doing?” which, if shouted in a supermarket frozen aisle, would either make you a viral sensation or deeply concerning to security.

Naturally, this lexical milestone came from a YouTube video series featuring a man’s head erupting from a toilet bowl. Yes, really. There’s also a dance. (There’s always a dance.) One that your younger cousin will attempt at a funeral because he thinks that’s what respect looks like now.

And just when you thought the linguistic apocalypse couldn’t get any more delulu (which, by the way, also made it into the dictionary—short for “delusional,” but make it sassy), we are introduced to “tradwife.” A charming term for a woman who embraces 1950s domesticity with 2020s Instagram filters. She cooks, she cleans, she hashtags. She probably bakes sourdough while discussing gender roles on TikTok. Revolutionary.

Then there’s “mouse jiggler”, a device that makes your computer think you’re working when in fact you’re binge-watching Skibidi Toilet episodes at 3 a.m. Because that’s where we are now. We’ve stopped working, but we’ve gamed the system so it looks like we are. A kind of postmodern productivity.

A screengrab Cambridge Dictionary

Even “broligarchy” has been welcomed with open arms. It refers to a tiny, bro-infested elite (you know, Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg) who control vast swathes of technology and are now one group hug away from forming the Avengers of Surveillance Capitalism. These men are oligarchs but also bro.

According to lexical programme manager Colin McIntosh in an interview with BBC said, "Internet culture is changing the English language and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the dictionary."

IMDB

These words among the 6000 words were added only after serious consideration and with an eye on their “staying power" meaning ones that "could stand the test of time. One assumes that’s the same staying power as those TikTok trends where teenagers eat dishwasher pods for content. Moving on.

So here we are, folks. The Cambridge Dictionary has officially opened its doors to the digital circus. Language, once a tool of poets and philosophers, is now happily hosting toilet memes and influencer slang.

And I? I shall retreat to my cave with a copy of Orwell and a candle, muttering, “What the skibidi have we done?”