Just a few weeks ago, the term “rizz” was being celebrated for its pop culture prominence, achieving iconic status as the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year. But at the end of the day, its impact on modern language is actually cringe-worthy, say the folks at Michigan’s Lake Superior State University.
The word — which Gen Zers have shortened from charisma and adopted to mean style, charm or the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner — is one of 10 that appears on LSSU’s 2024 Banished Words List, documenting what faculty says should be omitted from our collective vocabularies heading into the new year.
“This tradition highlights certain words that are often misused, overused, or have lost their meaning over the past year,” Sheridan Worth, director of marketing at Lake Superior State University, said in a statement.
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