https://www.scmp.com/rss/524824/feed The latest news and top stories on Oxford University Press (OUP). A UK-based academic publisher, OUP is dedicated to furthering excellence in research scholarship and education by publishing worldwide. Its main areas of focus include creating and disseminating academic and educational resources including books, journals, dictionaries and English-language teaching materials. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Iman Muttaqin Yusof Iman Muttaqin Yusof “You don’t even have to look for it,” nine-year-old Anaqi said of the short videos he watches online. “It just shows up automatically, and it’s super interesting.” That instinctive pull is familiar to his father, Firdaus Omar. The 39-year-old Malaysian civil servant said his two children – Anaqi and his six-year-old brother – could spend hours watching the kind of short, noisy, endlessly recommended clips now commonly dismissed online as “brain rot”. He is worried about the effect of such... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3348957/malaysian-bookshop-hits-novel-idea-bring-back-readers-addicted-brain-rot-clips?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3348957/malaysian-bookshop-hits-novel-idea-bring-back-readers-addicted-brain-rot-clips?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Apr 2026 05:00:11 +0000 Lisa Lim Lisa Lim If 2025’s zeitgeist is manifested by the various Word of the Year (WOTY) choices of dictionaries and other language-related bodies, then this year has us unequivocally positioned in the virtual world. WOTY choices are based on a combination of usage, public vote and committee deliberation. “Rage bait” is Oxford’s WOTY for 2025. The term, which denotes something that deliberately annoys others, was first coined in 2002 to describe a driver’s reaction to being flashed at by another driver... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3337005/word-year-2025-choices-reflect-how-virtual-our-reality-has-become?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3337005/word-year-2025-choices-reflect-how-virtual-our-reality-has-become?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Dec 2025 09:15:08 +0000 Sumnima Kandangwa Sumnima Kandangwa “I am Hugo, and I’m pretty sure I’m the first ever person in my family to get my brain rotted,” says Hugo Lee, a nine-year-old student at Lion’s Club International School in Tin Shui Wai. It might sound odd to boast about having a rotten brain, but Hugo and his classmate, 10-year-old Jesswin Kerung, proudly compete to list as many slang words as possible. They rattle off words that parents of toddlers and young teens may already know: “skibidi”, “rizz”, “negative aura”, and the hottest slang at... https://www.scmp.com/special-reports/article/3335175/decoding-gen-alphas-quirky-slang-skibidi-italian-brain-rot-and-6-7?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/special-reports/article/3335175/decoding-gen-alphas-quirky-slang-skibidi-italian-brain-rot-and-6-7?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Dec 2025 22:00:09 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Oxford University Press has named “rage bait’’ as its word of the year, capturing the internet zeitgeist of 2025. The phrase refers to online content that is “deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive,” with the aim of driving traffic to a particular social media account, Oxford said in a statement. “The person producing it will bask in the millions, quite often, of comments and shares and even likes sometimes,’’ lexicographer Susie Dent told... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3334788/rage-bait-named-word-year-uks-oxford-university-press?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3334788/rage-bait-named-word-year-uks-oxford-university-press?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Dec 2025 10:45:44 +0000