The Words of the Year 2025 📖 with Amber & Paul [968] | Luke's ENGLISH Podcast - Learn British English with Luke Thompson

You're listening to Luke's English Podcast.

Hello, listeners.

Welcome back to Luke's English Podcast.

How are you doing today?

I hope you're doing fine.

So I'm publishing this episode on the 25th of December, which is actually Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas.

Hello.

Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, I will wish you all the best for this end of year period.

And yeah, this is a funny time of year for a lot of people.

It's kind of like, yes, the end of 2025, the beginning of 2026.

I'm assuming that you're listening to this around the time that it's published.

Most of the time most episodes of my podcast get most of their that most of the listening happens.

I mean, most people listen... A rambly introduction already.

Most people listen to a new episode within the first couple of weeks that it's published.

So I imagine that you're listening to this at the end of 2025, beginning of 2026.

And it's at this time of year, you know at the end of the year, that we look back on the year that we've just had and kind of reflect on it.

Then we start to look forward to the upcoming year.

That's certainly where I am.

We have our New Year's Eve and New Year's Day at the end of December, beginning of January.

To an extent, it's a weird limbo land.

I'm in a kind of in-between zone.

So it can be a slightly funny time of year, a bit of a strange time of year.

It can be nice at this time of year to just kind of get away from everything and just cocoon yourself somewhere nice and cosy and maybe escape from all that family madness and take some time maybe just to listen to this new episode of Luke's English Podcast.

So I'm very happy to be with you. here today, here and now.

So this episode is all about the words of the year, which is always an interesting subject and relevant subject for an end of year episode of the podcast.

I'm actually reading from paper notes here.

I actually wrote these notes down with a pen on a piece of paper which seems like it's from some ancient Past time, like some old era, like the Victorian era, where I've been sitting by candlelight writing something with an old pen rather than writing it on a screen.

But anyway...

The words of the year.

Always an interesting and relevant subject for an end of year episode, I think.

And I've done this lots of times before.

So I'm talking about, so what are the words of the year?

I will explain it in proper detail in a moment with Amber and Paul.

But basically, we're talking about 10 words chosen by Collins Dictionary.

I've gone for Collins Dictionary this time, but other dictionaries publish their words of the year.

For example, last year with Amber, I talked about the Oxford Dictionary words of the year.

This year they just published three, whereas Collins have done ten, and so I've gone for the Collins list.

Ten words chosen by Collins Dictionary that reflect the cultural zeitgeist.

Zeitgeist is an interesting word.

It's originally a German word, but we use it in English as well.

The zeitgeist means the spirit of the times, right?

The feeling or spirit of... this current moment right now.

And so these words typically will reflect something about the spirit of the times, the current cultural zeitgeist.

And talking about this on the podcast is a chance for you to obviously pick up some new words as we talk about these 10 words, words which are brand new in the sense that they've They might not be individually new words, but in combination with each other they form phrases or portmanteau words which are certainly new and which arrived this year and were used a lot this year.

This episode made us feel a little bit old, because I think a lot of these words probably are used by people in the Gen Z category, who are younger.

They do a lot more chatting online and probably are much more likely to be using new language.

It's normally younger generations who introduce new terminology into language.

So Amber Paul and I feel a bit old because a lot of them we don't really use, or some of them we may have heard, but we haven't really used them a lot.

And this is often the case.

New words often take time to enter everyone's active vocabulary.

And you can see that from previous examples of the words of the year.

For example, in the past, we've had words like gaslighting and AI slop and post-truth.

And all of those words seemed kind of brand new and almost mysterious when we talked about them, when they just emerged.

But all of them are now used really commonly.

So you'll just see that they might be brand new, but a lot of these words do go on to become really commonly used words.

So really, this is a chance for you to listen to us discussing themes and topics which are very significant at this moment in time.

And this includes a lot of tech-related topics, as you might expect.

Of course, we have the rise of AI and the profound ways it is changing our lives for good and bad.

The ways that social media is continuing to change the way that people behave and the way that people see themselves.

The ways our attitudes and behaviour towards health lifestyle, diet and exercise are changing in the context of new health monitoring technologies, but also the increased commercialisation of wellbeing and healthcare.

So how is this affecting the way that people behave and think about health and staying healthy?

Also, there's some stuff about the super-rich leaders of the tech industry and their weird habits and motivations, plus some discussion of how climate change is affecting the way people go on holiday, and a lot more.

So I think you can see that those are topics that I think are important to know about.

So you can expect from this episode, which is going to start in just a moment, a fairly intense discussion of these topics with my friends Amber and Paul.

And so this involves listening to informal fluent, spontaneous conversation between three friends in English which, of course, might be difficult.

I said it in the last episode, listening to this kind of thing in English is definitely a lot more challenging than just listening to me on my own.

But it's definitely important.

You have to try to listen to people interacting in English and sort of natural, authentic speaking speeds, I think.

So I hope that you are able to follow it and keep up with the conversation.

There might be some things you don't understand, but I would like to encourage you to keep going, keep listening.

Anyway, even if you feel a bit lost, you will sort of catch up and it's basically very good exercise for you.

So some intensive listening topics which you should be able to talk about yourself in English.

Personal opinions on these subjects.

Bits of the usual humour plus some swearing.

Yes, some rude language, swear words and do pop up in the conversation.

I mentioned this at the beginning of the last episode.

But if you are listening with children or something, or listening in another situation where perhaps it wouldn't be appropriate for everyone to hear those rude words, then you should just proceed with caution.

There are some F words, and also the C word makes a couple of appearances too.

I'm not going to say them now in the introduction.

But I just wanted to kind of give you a little heads up about that.

You know what the F word is, but the C word.

It's a very rude word but, oh my goodness, it is fun to say it sometimes.

But please, I want you to know that it is definitely very much a taboo in polite company, especially with Americans, for example.

Yeah, I'll mention it at the end, okay?

I don't want this to be a big mystery and I don't want you to leave the episode not knowing what the word is.

So I will definitely say this word in the outro, the ending part of this episode.

Right.

I don't want to talk more in this introduction.

I want to get straight into it.

I just need to say there is a PDF transcript for the entire episode.

So if you want to search for words that you've heard, or if you want to read what you are listening to, you can check out the PDF.

The link is in the description.

It's also available on the episode page on my website.

And it's totally free.

So you can check that out as well.

Right.

So, without any further ado, let's join Amber and Paul and me again when we recorded a conversation just the other day about the words of the year 2025.

And here we go.

Amber and Paul are on the podcast.

Amber and Paul are on another podcast.

Paul's a very funny boy.

His laugh I very much enjoy.

Amber's got a lovely voice.

If I could choose an accent, hers would be my choice.

We did this last year, Amber.

We did do it, yeah.

So last time it was just us.

Now we've added Paul into the mix.

We did do one a couple of years ago, the three of us.

I think Paul was meant to be there, but he was on a world tour.

Something like that.

Running away from... He was running from his problems in one way or another.

Who is this organised by?

So, we've done the words of the year a few times before, in fact.

I've done several episodes about it in the past.

I did not look them up, deliberately.

I didn't look them up.

I have come fresh.

I don't know what they are.

So, the concept of this, everybody.

Every year, dictionaries like Collins, Oxford and Cambridge publish their lists of the words of the year.

These are words which have been newly added to dictionaries during the year.

These words are chosen mainly because they've been used a lot over the last 12 months.

Because you know dictionary makers who are called.

Well, they could be called lots of things, but what do we call people who make dictionaries?

Dicks?

Dicks.

I don't know.

It's a good word.

Dictionaries.

Lexicographers, they're known as.

Also, Colin and Merriam and Webster, as you know.

But anyway...

So dictionary makers or lexicographers keep track of how we all use language as best they can and they notice when new words are being used and they decide when these words should be added to the dictionary.

So it's like, oh, here are all these words that all these people are using.

These are the words we've noticed from online searches and all sorts of other ways in which they gather data about word usage.

Here are these words.

Which ones should we actually add to the dictionary?

They have to make judgments about which ones they think are worth adding to the dictionary, and so on.

Where do they get their data?

For Collins Dictionary, this data comes mainly from the Collins Dictionary.

Corpus, which is a database of 24 billion words, a database of language usage which draws from a range of media sources.

I say 24 billion words.

It's probably 24 billion word combinations rather than individual words.

Anyway, a database of language usage which draws from a range of media sources, including social media.

This data shows the frequency of use of all words, but also new words.

So loads of words not just the words of the year, but loads of words are added to the Collins Dictionary each year.

And from these words, Collins picks 10 words which will be the words of the year, with one of them in the first position.

The word of the year.

Which is the word that's been used the most.

It's either the word that's been used the most or the word that the judges decide is not only high frequency, but also significant for various reasons.

Okay uh, they so.

Then they.

They publish the words of the year uh, on post, on social media, and then we make a podcast episode about it.

That's what happens.

So is this a collins only thing?

No, because lots of dictionaries do it, oxford do it um uh, merriam-webster do it and dictionarycom it's not like a combined.

They don't necessarily have the same word.

Why are there different dictionaries?

I've just had that thought.

Collins and Oxford and Cambridge.

Is there not just a finite number of English words?

And those are the words?

No, they'll have slightly different ways of recording, slightly different ways of judging whether they should be added or not.

But I'm just talking about generally, a dictionary, why are there different brands of dictionary?

What's the difference between an Oxford dictionary and a Collins dictionary?

I mean, Oxford and Cambridge are probably associated with the universities, right?

Cambridge and Cambridge English is a big academic institution.

And so they devote a lot of time to recording the English language.

And as a result, they publish their dictionaries because that's just what the organizations do.

Collins, I don't know.

I suppose it's a commercial organization.

They also are probably academically linked.

I'm not sure to who.

Maybe it's flattened out now, though.

You know, like now, today, the dictionaries have much more space, don't they?

Because they're mainly online.

But there would have been a time where dictionaries might have had different access to words, different space, different publishing abilities.

Like these are old, some of these dictionaries.

And certainly Oxford, maybe they'd have been more academic.

So I agree.

Like, is there much difference now?

Maybe not so much.

Because I like...

Again, it's like a finite number of words.

So does one dictionary have less words than the other?

Well, it's how deep you go into the words as well, though.

A lot of them talk about where they've come from, how they've changed.

You know, because words have changed.

So Because that's the other thing,

These are new words, but words change their meaning all the time.

And, you know, even you'll read an older book.

Yeah.

And they'll be using words and you'll have to remind yourself this is an old usage of this word.

Mm-hmm.

And so that's also part of it as well.

So that changes between the dictionaries?

Yeah, some of them might go deeper into how the word has changed or the origins of the word.

And that certainly might have been much more important.

Let's say you're working on translation.

You're going to want to really get like deep down into the sort of origins of the word and how that's changed.

So if you're in an academic institution, you're reading something in English and you're looking up the meaning of the word, you might want to see how that word has changed and developed.

And some dictionaries I mean I don't know might spend more time and give more space in their dictionary to that than others.

Today it's different because a lot of it's online, you know, because there's only so much like how big can a dictionary be?

You know?

A physical one, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's true, because I remember... What would you call it?

The expanded Oxford Dictionary?

I don't know what the word is for it, but the full-size Oxford Dictionary.

The Oxford Pro Max.

Yeah, right, exactly.

It's like 10 volumes long.

It's like 10 books, and they're massive books, huge things.

You know, obviously, these days, it's all digital databases and stuff like that.

But it's a good question.

Why are there different dictionaries?

I suppose, you know, you just get who wrote the first dictionary.

Was it Samuel?

Well, not Samuel Pepys.

Who was it?

Colin.

Colin and Harper.

Yeah.

And then and then, you know, Oxford's.

Universities say, we're going to make our own dictionary.

Cambridge University say, we're going to make ours.

Merriam-Webster in the United States, we're going to make the American dictionary that reflects American usage.

And then Colin comes along, or Longman comes along.

Penguin.

Yeah, Penguin.

And they just think, well, there's a lot of money to be made from selling dictionaries, maybe.

That might have been a motivation.

I mean, there's dictionaries for children.

There's dictionaries which are sort of pitched at different place.

Yeah yeah, that one, that those make sense.

It's just like i feel i i, i'm still, i'm still so reeling from the well no, i just it.

Just i'm like paul, you are derailing us.

We're never gonna get.

I mean like, it's a like, why is it not just for a language in the country?

Because they serve different purposes.

I get in the us, they've got miriam, whoever she is um, and they've got.

The american words are different to the british words.

Right australian, they've got different words.

A Canadian is a whole Canadian thing right now, where the prime minister got lambasted by the Canadians being like hey, you're using British spelling.

Please don't.

Please use Canadian spelling.

Anyway.

What's Canadian spelling?

Well, it's a mixture because I read the article.

It's a mixture between American and British.

So they will use Zed.

Like unionise with a Z as we would have with an S.

It's actually standard in the Oxford English Dictionary, by the way.

Is it?

I-Z-E endings.

Really?

It's the standard for Oxford.

Oh, really?

Yeah, so it's not as simple as you think.

IZE is not always just American English.

In some cases, it's normal standard in Britain.

In Oxford University, it is.

But generally speaking, in the UK, yeah, ISE, not IZE.

But they will take UK stuff like they'll add a U for colour and neighbour and things like that in Canada.

But

Anyway, sorry.

Paul just thought that the episode wasn't going to be long enough, so he thought that he would just add that in listeners.

What list are we doing?

Are we doing Collins?

So, Collins Dictionary.

Ten new words often that reflect modern trends which have emerged during the year and which probably have been used a lot online, because I get the impression that they

They get a lot of their data from online usage.

So that would probably mean like posts and comments and on social networks like TikTok and so on.

And as a result, the words in the list are very zeitgeisty, right?

They sort of reflect the current cultural climate or zeitgeist.

Do we get to guess some of them?

Yes, we can.

Yeah.

Can I just ask you a couple of quick... Yes, we're going to get into the words.

Everyone is so impatient.

No, it's just me.

Amber's sitting there not talking.

It's not just you.

There's legions of listeners. to the end of the episode is that what you want you just want to end the episode just get to the end and then i can just you know do something else it's like just slow down enjoy your life live live in the moment live in the moment please everyone i have more questions before we start i know but okay we're listening we're listening okay um okay i'll ask you to predict some of the words then let's have that if you listeners you want words let's i'll give you some words i don't know why i said that because i don't i'm not young enough I've got none.

I don't know.

Listeners, what do you think?

What could be the words that reflect cultural trends?

It doesn't matter.

They've already read the intro.

You've already done the intro.

All right.

The transcript is available.

What about something like manosphere?

Has that already been done?

Oh, that's a good one.

Manosphere.

You're very close.

You're very close with that because there is one that's very similar to it.

Red pill.

Incel.

No, that's old stuff now.

Misandry.

These are old things.

Okay, number one.

Are we not going ten to one?

Nah.

Straight in with the top word?

We're just going to get straight in with the top word.

Who does the top ten and then goes in the right order?

Me.

Because we're not necessarily going to do all ten.

We might not make it to the end.

I've gone in a different order where I'm going with number one.

Give the people what they want.

You want to get to the point?

We'll get to the point.

Number one.

Okay.

And then some others.

And if we don't do the last four or five, it's not the end of the world.

Okay, okay, okay.

Okay?

Right.

So number one is vibecodingcom.

Oh, so i want to know a, have you heard the word being used?

B have you got any idea what it means?

And three, we'll then chat about the general subject.

Okay, so do you know what vibe coding is?

No no, could you give us some context in in how it would be used?

Is it?

Is it something that you do?

Uh yes, i'm currently vibe coding.

Is that something you would say?

I mean it's it's, you're trying to figure out the vibes?

No, so I'll tell you what it is.

Tell us.

Okay.

Vibe Coding is an emerging software development that turns natural language into computer code using AI.

So basically this means instead of getting into debt to go to college to get a degree in software engineering and then painstakingly writing out code to make a website or an app or something, you just speak your prompts to AI in normal language and the AI produces the code and you just copy paste that into the coding editor And then you go back to scrolling flip-flop or fat-flop or whatever it is the latest social media app is that someone else has probably made simply by vibe-coding that while having a power nap last Tuesday lunchtime.

And that's number one on the list.

I'm going home.

See you later.

Bye.

I still don't even really understand what it is.

Don't even bother.

Translate.

What I've understood from that is instead of typing code out... Who types code?

Up until recently, a lot of people.

How do you think websites are made?

Well, you just, there's online tools.

You don't need to do anything.

You just click, you just click it.

If I go here and I open a new tab.

No, I understand code is a thing, but most normal people don't need to code.

Don't do anything.

Don't mess with it.

Don't do it.

I know what code is.

Listen listen, listen.

Amber, if you were, if you wanted to make an app, let's just say a weather app.

Sure, okay.

It's not necessary.

I need to code.

No, I don't.

You'd need to apply some coding.

You'd need to write the code out and then paste it into something.

I know AI can do it for me by vibe coding.

You don't need to learn the code.

I'm just like I want to make an app with you.

Know, I need to tell where my latest shopping places are, and this and that.

And then it will just...

Exactly, I've got an example, an API weather app.

Because what we need is a weather app.

Well, it's just an example, but the prompt which would be entered into the AI you could either type it in or you could just say it to the AI would be something like this

Hey ChatGPT, I can't be bothered to do this for myself, so can you write code for a weather app that shows the temperature and humidity level on my street, plus directions to the local overpriced coffee shop with tiny stools where I type in a postcode?

No.

Anyways, you know, use any free weather API and order me a skinny chai latte while you're at it.

Okay, I do see that.

The thing is, just very briefly, I was trying to use AI the other day and it's useless.

It's despicable.

The information is wrong.

I thought this has not saved me any time, because now, not only do I need to fact check this, I know it's wrong.

So now it's completely pointless.

I wasted my time asking you something.

You give me the wrong information.

Now I need to do it myself anyway.

What did you ask and which AI were you using?

I was using ChatGPT.

I was looking for a quick summary of dates of the times that the Vondome column was pulled down and put back up again.

Right.

You wanted some history facts.

I just wanted some history facts, just with the very dates.

You know this here to here.

Here to here.

Just a nice little table.

And then I was, you know, been researching that and it was going to expand on it.

And instantly I looked at it and I thought, well, it's wrong.

I can see from glancing at that information that it's wrong.

Complete waste of time.

Wrong dates.

But it makes it sound like it's right, doesn't it?

When it's like, oh, here's the thing.

And you're like, oh, it could be right.

And I thought, well, I see what they've done.

And I just thought, well, but this information is just like articulately put down.

It looks very factual.

But I know for a fact is wrong.

And so I thought, well, you just can't trust it.

You must use it.

It reminds me of my dad.

Like, the conversation... Yeah, do you know what I mean?

Wait, AI reminds me of my dad.

Yeah, he's a middle-aged man.

It thinks it knows everything.

Yeah, well, do you know what I mean?

Like, my dad is, like, the type who's so argumentative and he knows everything about everything.

Like when I told him when I was starting to train for a marathon a couple of years ago, he's like no, what you want to do yeah, is you want to do.

I'm like no, that's not what you want to do.

That's not how you train for marathons anymore.

You are absolutely right.

But he'll be so convincing in the thing that he says...

And you don't question him.

You're like, all right.

And then you look it up afterwards.

You're like, he was talking shit.

For me, ChatGPT is a bit like if you got a Labrador and made it super intelligent...

And it would just be like, what can I do for you today?

And you're like, well, I'd like to know some history facts about Place Vendôme, please.

Sure, here they are.

Anything else I can do for you?

And then you read it.

It's like, that's just completely wrong.

Well, yeah, I'm a Labrador.

Yeah, exactly.

But it's terrifying because if you... Like, I wasn't looking for information.

I was just looking for a sort of easy, just saving myself writing out the dates, because it sort of goes up and down.

But I thought, but if you are using it for information, this information is deeply incorrect.

Right.

It's so flawed.

And yet the information is actually very straightforward.

Like it's all out there.

I wasn't asking for something particularly nuanced.

So if you're then going to build on that, you're building on sand.

I mean, it's a waste of time.

This is the potential disadvantage of vibe coding is that your source code is completely rubbish.

Nonsense.

And it just doesn't work.

Or it's going to give you the completely wrong information.

It's going to be pouring with rain.

You're going to head out with your waterproofs and it's a bright sunny day.

And you'll be in a tea shop instead of a coffee shop.

Precisely.

Ordering an English breakfast tea instead of your nice chai latte.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Embarrassing.

You've got cow's milk instead of oat milk.

Exactly.

You know, it's all gone horribly wrong for you.

It's interesting because it's sometimes it's strange because, like for stuff like that, it gets it wrong.

And for other stuff, like I'm, my marathon training is basically Chachi Petit.

Mm-hmm. where I've given it... It feels like the more you give it, the better it is.

I'm like, I'm almost 40.

I've done two marathons.

Here's my injuries I've had before.

Here's why I get injured.

Here's the shoes that I use.

Here's how long I've got.

And I've got these back-to-back marathons coming up, blah, blah, blah.

And it's just like here's what i suggest.

This is it like when it's almost correct or for the majority of the time, is correct, and then deviate slightly.

That's what you don't notice.

But then you start going down that path and in the beginning okay, you've just deviated slightly and it sort of said oh, you should prioritize, i know, strengthening your glutes yeah, which is probably a good idea.

But you know it says something and you think okay, I will integrate, you know, I'll bring that part of my training.

And actually it's complete nonsense.

Well, the consequences might not be important, but actually you can find yourself, you know, down quite far from wherever you should be.

And even in a much wider sense.

AI, you know, has only fairly recently emerged, but you know 10 15, 20 years down the line in general we might have been led completely astray by it.

This is a wider point that's made about the dangers of AI.

Well, Because it's very self-referential.

All sorts of ways in which it can end up being kind of catastrophic, because it's so powerful and so amazing and yet so vulnerable to error.

Yes.

And yet we are unable to recognise when it's making errors and all sorts of things that could lead to, you know, quite dangerous outcomes.

That said, I mean, I completely agree.

And it's also.

It drinks the Kool-Aid.

You know, so to speak, like it will read its own misinformation and think it's right.

Yes.

That said, what is very interesting is that we are vulnerable to that as well.

You know when you sometimes you read these like peer reviewed blah blah.

You know articles where someone says you know they actually looked at them and they realized that most of it was complete nonsense or based on, like you know, someone sort of made up some study and was just like fuck it and puts in this information.

And then everyone sort of says, oh, that's great.

And we are also part of that problem.

In a sense, you've got the human error, normal levels of human error.

Or deliberate.

Or deliberate misuse or whatever you want to call it.

But either humans doing it wrong, which leads to bad outcomes.

So you've got like the risk benefit ratio of humans doing things.

And then you've got the risk benefit ratio of AI doing things.

And what is happening more and more is that the risk benefit ratio is improving for AI all the time.

And for humans it's more or less going to stay the same, maybe improve a little bit, but the AI is rapidly improving so fast and we'll get to a point where, Compared to each other, AI gets it right more often than humans.

And that's when it achieves super intelligence.

That's when we let it do everything.

Well, maybe it gets better than humans.

Maybe.

I mean, that's the whole thing.

Probably.

If it gets into that loop, I think...

It can be an incredible tool, obviously.

But it can be devastatingly inaccurate when the stakes are high.

It goes in both ways.

I mean, one person, like one doctor, can't know everything.

You know, but you still need that person because AI can still get it desperately wrong.

But they might be able to be an incredible tool that someone like a medical professional could use to be like double check that there's not some weird unthought of disease.

You know that they're not familiar with that.

They can kind of come up with.

But you wouldn't want AI to be your doctor either.

Yeah.

No, it's been helpful for me health-wise recently.

That's good.

Yeah.

Like I've typed it, you know, I've had a conversation with it, and then I go to the doctor.

I'm like what's wrong with me?

And they're like this.

I'm like okay, it is it.

Two or three times i've been recently it's been exactly the problem that i've had um.

I had a problem with my eye, which i still have um, which it was like i'm not sure if it's conjunctivitis, you know, the other day when i went to the doctor um, and it turned out to be the thing that chat gpt said it was.

I can't remember.

And But yeah, there's been a couple of times, even with my shoulder and my liver issues, where I've had like I've uploaded my Data.

Yeah, my... What do you call it when you have an image scan?

Yeah, and it can read it for you.

Yeah, like ultrasound and the... Report.

The report and being like, what should I do?

You know, checking obviously with the doctor afterwards and it's kind of been exactly the same.

I'm like, okay, it's pretty good at doing that.

But that's the problem.

I mean the thing is, when it's right, it's really good yeah, but when it's wrong, you can't tell exactly.

It's like you know, when it's giving you that information where you kind of know the answer, you're like gosh, that's that sounds right, but i know it to be wrong.

Yeah, and yeah well, because we didn't grow up with technology, immediately we'll double check it.

We're on google or we'll double check another website.

The younger generation might just be like oh, that's because they don't know anything, because they're just growing, they're 12 years old, they don't know anything, but so they just go.

Oh, that must be the answer, Yeah.

Yes.

I mean, I don't know how we're going to deal with all of that.

But in certain going back to vibe coding, I mean some people must be doing it successfully and doing it quite a lot for it to be.

I can't believe that's number one.

For it to be the word of the year for Collins Dictionary.

I mean, that's there has to be something.

But, I mean, basically advantages of writing code in that way, obviously it's more accessible.

You don't have to have a master's degree in, you know, computer engineering or systems engineering or something.

Speed and efficiency, arguably it's quicker to do it, you know.

Yeah.

Well, it also gives people access who might actually come.

No offense to the coffee shop.

But you know you might be a brilliant fill in the blank.

You know, whatever it is, maybe a scientist or a researcher in something.

And you've got this great idea for an app, something or some sort of code which would make it a lot more accessible for other people to access it, whatever it might be.

But you're not a coder.

So it could be a great way for people who might not know about coding to share information in a more efficient way.

Of course.

I mean, there are lots of advantages.

Could be some great outcomes.

We might end up with some really great things, you know, as a result of people who are not technically minded but more creative and sort of human experience oriented, being able to produce things more easily.

I mean, you know, it's not necessarily all bad.

Increased productivity potentially, but then risks, you know, could involve just a loss of fundamental skills because, as people do that more often, that no one can actually code anything anymore and we just rely on the AI.

Blind trust in AI generated code can lead to errors, as we've discussed.

Reduced job readiness potentially. due to the aforementioned loss of fundamental skills.

If you've just been vibe coding, your CV might actually be weaker if you only have vibe coding experience compared to actual coding experience.

And then there's privacy and IP concerns, which I suppose refers to.

If you're, if you're using an ai to help you create code, who owns the code?

And the the ai company might say that this is actually our code.

Yeah, it's our website.

You know.

All your base are belong to us.

Yeah, which is, i guess, why disney just sold or partnered or paid or got paid a billion dollars to be able to use their characters.

Was it disney?

Yeah, I think it was Disney.

It was some... I think it's Disney.

I don't know which AI platform they've partnered with, but it was a 1 billion deal where there was the whole IP thing of like.

If you type into AI like oh, make a picture of Donald Duck kissing Buzz Lightyear, whatever.

Do you know what I mean?

It would peel that up.

But then it's like you're stealing IP from Disney.

But now they've partnered with a thing where for a billion

I don't know what the exact details of it, but I guess that's part of the thing where you go.

Oh well, I'll sell my voice.

So there's two actors who have sold their voice to an AI company being like, you can use my voice.

Michael Caine, I think, is one of them.

Really?

Michael Caine.

Really?

That would be quite good.

Where you can have a voiceover from Michael Caine and he'll get paid for it, but he doesn't have to do any work.

Yeah.

It's pretty cool.

Yeah.

I said all your bass are belong to us.

And there'll be one attentive listener who's like, what was that, Luke?

That's just a reference to an old meme. with bad English in it.

So that's not me making bad English just in case.

I just wanted to... I didn't even hear you say that.

Well, there was one person out there in Lepland who fell off their chair when they heard that.

And that is just an old meme from a computer game with some bad English in it.

Okay.

So anyway, right, the second... Can't wait.

Second word.

You've definitely heard of this one.

Maybe.

This is the... I'm going to let you guess what it is.

The deliberate cultivation of a distinctive and charismatic persona, typically done online.

Aura farming.

Mate, no, I've never heard of this.

Wow, is aura older than one year old like oh, he's got aura aura aura um no, so obviously aura and farming are not new words.

No, the combination of the two aura, farming are.

What is someone's aura?

This is something that's been around for ages.

It has, but it's it's got a new meaning now, does it?

Yeah, kids are you?

Kids will be like oh, he's got aura right, okay.

So well, what's the traditional, original meaning of someone's aura?

It's your kind of presence, that you sort of yes, that you think that you like give off.

People suggest you know.

An aura is almost like light which comes off a person, or a certain color or light that emanates from a person and And it is their aura.

So, for example, if you meet, if you met Jesus, either when he was alive or indeed, or when dead, he would have an aura.

He would be almost be like there'll be holy light coming off him.

And you would be like struck by how holy and fantastic he was.

And then you would, you know, just become a Christian fully.

So anyway, so also maybe like a wonderful famous person would have an aura, like a great sense of charisma about them.

So that's the original meaning.

But you're saying young people have said he's got aura, meaning he's got charisma.

Yeah.

Riz, yeah, that's the other one.

But that's a couple of years old.

That's a couple of years old.

So maybe now it's Aura, but we're speculating on that.

But Aura Farming, I can tell you, is a set I mean, it's interesting that neither of you are aware of this which

I mean, what does this mean?

I suppose it just either means that we don't have a finger on the pulse of where it's at, or these words are not that pervasive.

So for my listeners, I should say, I wouldn't worry about using... No one's using it.

...vibe coding or a farming... They might be at high school.

Like you know, if you've got a teenager to early 20s, they might be using that, you know at school or university.

I feel like... We're too old as well.

Yeah, you know because I was having this.

Obviously, I'm on social media and there's a lot of videos of like parents trying to speak to their teenagers in teenage language using all of these type of riz skibbity toilet, whatever the thing is.

Which is breaking the rules, by the way.

There's.

You know, cultural rules dictate that parents or people of that generation shouldn't be using that language and so but it obviously they're very funny videos and you know there's been a couple of things where you know people like oh, what is?

The language is evolving so quickly.

And then I thought about it when we were kids and And I feel like all of those terms that we used as kids just disappear when you become an adult and you get a job and you go back to regular English.

I mean, obviously a word like cool.

My mum would never say, oh, that's cool.

Or my dad would never say that was cool when he was growing up.

I say it all the time now.

So maybe the kids will keep like the kids.

The teenagers now maybe will keep using RIS into their late middle ages, you know potentially.

If it's just based on data, just simply numbers of usage or farming as a new term.

Because obviously so many other terms are being used which are not new.

Who is it who comes up with new terms?

We don't need to come up with new terms.

It's the younger generations who use new language because they want to own things for themselves.

They don't want to use the language that older generations are using because it doesn't feel like theirs.

So they come up with new terms.

And, as a result, the reason why these ones are being used a lot compared to already existing language is because it's people in their teens and twenties who are using it.

So it's kind of like an insult being like, Oh, he's aura farming.

Like he, he's trying to steal somebody else's aura.

Well, isn't it you're just kind of creating something?

You're like... Maybe.

What's the actual definition?

So let me just give some more comments, and this includes some things paraphrased from Colin's website.

Constructing a certain atmosphere around your personality, often through the things you post in order to appear cool.

Right.

Being fake in order to give off a certain vibe.

He's just aura farming, maybe.

Right.

Posting you know other examples posting pictures of yourself looking glamorous and spontaneous on a beach.

But in reality you took 300 photos, had to edit out annoying people from the background and you ended up skipping lunch and your hat kept blowing off.

But the photo on Instagram is you looking fantastic and wonderful on a beach with a great aura.

Perhaps we're all a bit too focused on aura farming, said Collins Dictionary, defined as the deliberate cultivation of a distinctive and charismatic persona that looks effortless but is anything but.

This Gen Z phenomenon – so that's not us – which exploded after a viral video of an Indonesian boy exuding calm confidence while dancing during a boat race, captures the paradox of our age trying to look like you're not trying.

Have you seen this video?

I have not seen this video, but I know exactly.

I mean, yeah, we I don't know what term we would use.

We would just say, you know, it's being fake.

I have friends who I look at their Instagram things.

I'm like, what is this?

It's like Insta fake.

Yeah.

It's just like your your aura farming.

I like it.

I'm going to start using it now.

But it's I don't know what we would say before.

It's just like you're you're it's like fake it till you make it.

That's not really the phrase.

That's kind of got a positive spin where you like this.

That's how superficial you say.

He's been being superficial, like because they're on Instagram.

They're posing, you know, in a bikini with their

But as soon as the photo is taken, like they let go and they've got a belly.

Do you know what I mean?

It's like, yeah, you're being superficial.

You want people to think that you're living a life in a certain way, and you're clearly not, but that's all you're posting.

Trying to create an amazing aura around yourself, but it's completely fake and it's just for the clicks or whatever.

So that's it.

So the significance is a further shift towards a tech dominated world in which our identities are heavily mediated and increasingly disconnected from everyday reality.

A society grappling with authenticity in an increasingly performative world.

I've seen, like younger generations counter that.

Now though, because you know, like ai has got so good with pictures.

With photos, you go here's these people like, put these three people in a room together and make it look, and it looks amazing.

Now um, i've seen, like younger generations, you know, post like the no makeup stuff and get rid of the aura farming, whatever that.

There must be another term that's going to be The opposite of aura farming, like authenticate or whatever it is.

Authenticising.

Yeah, something like that.

Like where you're doing that, instead like you're being completely open and authentic about your flaws.

But I mean, there is the phenomena of the fact that you are putting it online is already you know.

That is the sort of flip side of that.

Like, oh, I'm so authentic.

It is, again, just another sort of facet.

Well, just don't post it then.

Yeah, precisely.

But we live in a different world.

Like, I mean, you're on social media.

You need to be for your work.

I mean, I never think...

I love social media and I watch loads of people, but a lot of the time I think, why?

Why are you sharing this?

I'm enjoying watching it.

Like, this is fun.

But what made you record this, edit this, post this?

Why are you doing this?

Why?

I don't understand.

It's a very good question.

It's a question we all need to ask ourselves, Amber.

But I had a really great time today.

I went to this really fantastic expo in Paris.

It was beautiful.

That's enough.

I'm not going to post it online.

It's almost like for many people if it's not online and other people are observing it.

It didn't happen.

You can't just enjoy something on its own just for its own worth.

It has to be done...

In an attempt to aura farm.

Yeah.

In order to somehow manufacture.

Do you know what?

It's not about aura farming, because there's one part which is like my life is better than yours or I'm living a great life, or whatever it is.

I'm running away from my problems.

You know, I'm creating this great life.

The way you point at Paul when you say that.

But the other hand, it's like you're monetizing something.

Everything feels monetized.

Like I can see why people go online because it is part of their business.

You know, like you need people to know who you are.

You're going to come to your shows.

Maybe you've got like I've got a friend who she's a guide.

It's really useful for her.

A lot of these people, their life becomes their business.

They monetize their lives.

And suddenly the online world is just about gone.

Paying for stuff or buying stuff is very weird.

It's quite a sort of disturbing mix of business and pleasure, or business and personal life, where your own personal value as an individual is directly tied to your financial values.

But it's like some influencers in Paris.

And I mean, good luck to them.

This is not a criticism.

I'm not trying to say they shouldn't do this.

But their job is just posting about their lives.

Not just.

I'm sure it's lots of work.

They've got to be doing content and all that kind of stuff.

But it is posting about their lives.

But it's very curious because they're obviously earning a lot of money.

Yeah.

I think they make it seem like no one's earning any money.

Wow, this one girl I follow, her apartment, her flat is beautiful.

I mean, it's a trois pièces in central Paris.

I mean, it's huge.

But no one's making any money on Instagram.

Instagram doesn't pay any money.

TikTok, maybe.

Hold on, sorry.

She got the three-bedroom apartment in central Paris before she started posting or after she started posting.

After she started posting.

As a consequence, are you sure?

As a consequence.

And how do you get money from TikTok?

Through sponsorship?

TikTok don't just give you money.

They do.

It's like YouTube.

Really?

So there's ad revenue.

But it's not massive.

Unless you're getting millions and millions of view every time.

Where does TikTok get its money?

You don't pay to be on TikTok.

Well, because they've got adverts.

So when you scroll, you get adverts.

So the advertisers pay TikTok and then TikTok redistribute that.

Just like YouTube.

YouTube's the same, right?

You get paid from YouTube.

But this is like, so Instagram doesn't have monetized.

You can't get money from Instagram.

But what you might get money from is a lot of what it is is free shit.

So you'll get like a free skincare company.

That's like hey, can you make a video of you putting our cream on your face and we'll send you the cream.

Sometimes that will be paid.

So they'll give you.

They'll be like, depending on how many followers you got, they'll be like oh, we'll pay you, you know, 500 euros for one video where you put this skincare product.

The thing is though, with social media as a wealth distribution platform, you know, it's very difficult to tell how fair that is.

And so we do get high profile people who definitely earn a lot of money.

You know, you get like Mr. Beast on YouTube, for example, who's a huge earner.

But compare that to the number of people trying to earn like the average income from a YouTuber who's spending 30 hours a week.

Let's say

30 hours a week of YouTubing on average.

Probably is, I don't know, on average.

If you incorporate everyone, it's got to be below the minimum wage.

The average income.

I mean, the only reason he's making loads is because he gets 200 million views per video.

Right.

He's the exception.

Yeah, exactly.

But he's so visible that the culture moves quite significantly towards YouTube or social media as a means of making money for your living.

But the fact is that it's not a very a fair reflection of reality, because in reality, most people who do that don't get anywhere near it.

It's like stand-up, right?

You see the Ricky Gervais, Jimmy Carr, these lot getting paid 20 million per Netflix special.

Yeah.

And there's...

20 of them that are doing that.

Meanwhile, there's thousands of comedians in the uk, in france.

All these like making an uh, an okay living.

Yeah, by getting on stage and making people laugh.

Well, they're making an okay living.

So i'm saying that stand-up is probably uh, still a better option um, in terms of making a living yeah, than going into being blogging about your personal life, which seems to be so dangerously connected to your very own very personal emotional lived experience, rather than having the distance of a job with a contract.

Yeah instead, it's about selling your soul.

Well, it's also very precarious like, in the sense of like one.

You know i, i Most of my money comes from my shows.

But if I put my full show on YouTube, which I've done three times in that month after I post it, that's where I'll get, you know, a decent amount of money.

But then that's it.

It will be like you know, I'll post a video in and in three months I might get like three thousand euros from the ad revenue from the thing.

And then it drops off.

So, unless you're constantly posting and, as you said, it's like oh, what can I do to get more views,

Because more views means more money.

And then you're like, oh, well, I'm a guide in Paris.

Oh, here is the top 10 shit things in Paris.

How can I make it as clickable as possible so people watch?

And then you get a Parisian guide or a store being like, hey, we'll give you some free coffee.

We'll pay you 500 euros to talk about our coffee shop so that when your people come to visit And then it becomes like this whole thing, as you said, like it's, it becomes their who they are.

But the nature of that kind of income, that sort of employment situation, compared to just having a regular job is yes, it's far more precarious because it's completely individual.

You don't have a contract with an employer.

I don't know if you're covered by employment laws.

You know in the same way because you're not contractually tight connected to a company that's employing you.

There's no union that's looking after your rights.

Nothing at all.

So, you know, it's... Look how French you've become.

There's no union.

That's the third concern.

That's not just a French thing.

That's...

But you can see why people are very tempted to do it.

I mean, obviously there's one hand, there's money, but there are lots of people who don't have access to jobs or work or they're in a sort of precarious place.

Absolutely.

I can do this from my own home.

And they're trying.

But yeah, it's hard.

There's a girl on Twitch.

I can't remember her name.

She did an interview with Ladbible Stories, which is fascinating.

And she's got Tourette's.

And she can't really do... a lot of jobs because it's really quite an extreme form of Tourette's.

Is she young?

She's quite young.

Did they make a TV show about her?

I don't know.

There's a girl on social media who I've seen, who has Tourette's, who talks about her struggle and it is incredibly debilitating.

She's not getting through her sentence.

This girl's not only got verbal tics, she has behavioural, physical tics too.

She did quite a funny one where she was making a cocktail, actually.

I mean, she was kind of like leaning into it.

Like, you know, she was sort of saying, like, it is a real pain.

I'm going to make this cocktail.

And of course, the cocktail's going in.

These girls are examples of people who perhaps can't take the usual traditional, mainstream route of getting a job, you know, in an office or through a company or whatever it is.

And so, yeah, sure.

Streaming on Twitch is something that definitely works for them, because they are able to use their Tourette's as a sort of fascinating tool thing that draws an audience towards them.

And this girl, Anita, Sweet Anita, she's called.

And her tics are, and she agrees, are hilarious often.

And as a result, she's one of the most popular streamers on Twitch.

She does gaming and stuff like that.

But she's still doing something else because it's not enough to just...

Well, it is now.

Now she can.

She can only stream and that's how she makes her money.

But before that she did a job online where she was collecting glass from the ocean you know, ocean glass that washes up on the beach and collecting it on the beach and then selling it through an online store and doing quite well.

But that's the sort of job, you see, it's quite limited.

Her Tourette's wasn't a barrier to that kind of employment.

Yeah.

But, you know, online blogging about your life can certainly be great for some people.

Yeah, but I just, but also yeah, it just seems like such a precarious thing and such a growing thing in the minds of so many people where they, you know, people don't know what to do and they.

But that's also why you get more and more extreme content or a desire for more extreme content.

And it can be very dark.

Yes um, you know, very unhealthy, whether it's about on a personal level, or you know, like the family vloggers you know, which are pretty dark, or just like you know people looking for something different.

You know something to capture people's attention and you do have.

You know, sometimes it's fun.

But yeah, even mr beast, you know he's got to do crazy stuff.

Yes, i know yeah, Yeah.

I don't know what my point is about this or whether I'm just being reactionary.

But I'm just observing, I suppose, the fact that this kind of trend, it just seems to me slightly dangerous and I'm a bit wary of it.

I know I'm partially involved in doing it myself with my podcast and I always have been.

But I just, you know, always think...

I hope that people sharing so much about themselves are also being cautious, because that's you know.

They say you shouldn't mix business and pleasure.

And you have to have some.

You know distinctions between your own personal private life and the thing that you present to the world.

And we should protect ourselves a bit.

I think that's us being old, thinking that.

Because I think young people don't care.

They're like, I'll share everything.

I don't care.

Because they don't realise yet.

Because we've been through it.

So we know the... The value of having your own privacy, your own space.

But they don't.

They don't care.

They're like, oh, mate, I'm getting 400 million views.

It'll be interesting to see what it's like in 20 years.

We grew up, there wasn't this social media era.

You know, our shameful university life is sort of more or less obscure.

I mean, mine completely obscure.

But yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting to see that sort of digital native generation growing up and then maybe trying to erase their early life.

Yeah.

Which, yes, right.

Well, you know, just wish them all the best.

And obviously we're invested in it too because they're our kids.

Yeah, absolutely.

We're always just thinking of their well-being, aren't we?

Absolutely.

Right, the third thing, word three.

I said I knew we wouldn't get through ten.

We won't get through ten.

No, of course not.

We might get through three.

This may be the last, but we'll see.

So the third one is biohacking.

Oh yeah, okay.

Oh yeah, I know biohacking.

Now you know what this is.

Yeah.

So biohacking, it's a noun, it's a sort of informal phrase that people use to refer to the activity of altering the natural processes of one's body in attempt to improve one's health and longevity the length of their life.

At its simplest, it...

It means tweaking your habits to feel better, to be healthier, and to live longer.

At its most extreme, it means experimenting on your own.

It means experimenting on your own biology.

And also, we think of...

The ultra-rich sort of tech bros who take this to an extreme and try to live forever, including that one particular guy.

Yeah.

His name is Brian Johnson.

Yeah, that's it.

Yeah.

One of the least popular characters of recent times.

He is a spooky loon.

Right.

He's not a popular man.

Because he's so creepy yeah, you could do.

I mean, i mean if you, if you yeah, let's get into.

I'm biohacking, talk about i'm running away from my problems, but i'm technically biohacking my way.

No, Taking care of your health, totally like.

Yes, go for it.

Like, taking up running, eating more healthily, drinking less, fine.

Monitoring your teenage son's every move and, I mean, an attempt to... Is that what he's doing?

Hold on.

Before we get into Brian Johnson and his habits, his strange habits and all the rest of it, we need to just look at biohacking and break it down.

There's, like, different degrees of it.

So in its most basic sense, a lot of us do biohacking.

It's just basically being healthy.

Yeah.

And then, at its most extreme, it's doing all sorts of probably very expensive, very time consuming, very complex technology related things.

Yeah, like replacing your blood plasma and all this kind of stuff.

Infusions.

Yeah.

So in a most normal mainstream version of biohacking which is just being healthy as far as I can see small everyday adjustments aimed at improving health energy, sleep or mood.

For example, intermittent fasting, which is where you, just like you know, don't eat for a day every three days.

16 hours or something like that.

Having a cold shower in the morning to kind of like... Nonsense.

To kickstart your... Nonsense.

I'll have none of it.

Skip breakfast, have a cold shower.

Why live?

Yeah, good point.

Coffee, hot shower, live.

Sleep tracking, tracking the number of hours of sleep.

Taking vitamin supplements.

No.

Eating brain foods or, you know, other dietary supplements.

Omega whatever.

Omega 3 or, you know, probably commercially packaged products.

Or just being sold something cheap.

Why not try a new Luke's English podcast, Brain Juice?

Now available, guaranteed to help you learn up to 20% faster.

It's all snake oil.

Exactly.

Snake oil.

Strict morning routines, like getting up at 4.30 in the morning.

No.

Blue light blocking glasses.

Oh, God.

Bollocks.

To block...

I mean, you know, some of it might be true.

It's nonsense.

Blue light is a real thing, isn't it?

I don't know.

It's all just very made up.

You've got everything you could possibly need and you're still a fat, lazy arse.

She's turned into me.

Yeah, what happened?

She got so angry.

It makes me furious.

So those things I've just listed are the sort of biohacking that many people already do without calling it biohacking.

Level two technological biohacking using wearable devices and apps to measure the body in real time.

For example, Paul is wearing You're a fat, lazy cunt, but now you know.

But now you know, but now you've got the data to back it up.

Always help.

Why am i fat?

Well, you took three steps yesterday.

Always like such uh skepticism with health related things from you amber, i've noticed uh, technological biohacking.

Yes, wearable devices like you're wearing a wearable, a wearable watch, a wearable watch and it was the grandfather clock.

He's left at home.

I mean, you're wearing a watch that tracks your heart rate and and your blood sugar levels and things like that somehow.

I don't know if it does blood sugar, but it does yeah, the heart rate vo2 max, oxygen in the blood.

All this shite that okay, i don't really use smart watches.

Yes, continuous glucose monitors, heart rate variability tracking apps that analyze your sleep, your stress, your steps, your recovery from this, that or the other.

This is about quantifying yourself, knowing your numbers and adjusting your behaviour accordingly.

And then level three is DIY biology, body modification, biohacking which is more experimental, often controversial, probably a lot more expensive and only done by a very, very select few people, including implanting NFC or RFID chips under the skin.

I don't even know what NFC or RFID means.

It's like what's in your credit card so you can pay.

Instead of getting your phone out with Apple Pay and going boop, you just put your hand over because it's got a chip in.

Insert the chip in your hand and you can do it.

NFC is near field communication.

Right.

Very good.

DIY gene editing using CRISPR kits.

CRISPR kits.

Nootropics, smart drugs that you take.

Ketamine and psychedelic microdosing.

Where legal?

Amber's like, no, give me the macrodose.

Fuck the microdotes.

Oh, my gosh.

Magnetic implants in the fingertips, experiments done outside traditional laboratories and so on.

So to what extent?

Obviously, Amber, we we've picked up the fact that you're very sceptical about.

Very sceptical about it all.

Mm hmm.

OK, Paul, I mean, you wouldn't you wouldn't use the term biohacking.

No, I mean, I've had an Apple Watch. i've had an apple uh that's my yeah that's i've watched an apple i don't have an apple watch i just looked at an apple right um yeah because obviously i was working at apple when they came out um and so i've had one since and i've never really used the health features for it it's more been the the what you call it the um uh oh goodness me the the usefulness of being on my bike and seeing the message that's come through be like oh it's not urgent I don't need to stop my bike convenience yeah convenience that's the word I was looking for but since I've started running yeah I obviously in my running Nike app other apps available You can track, you know, you track the run, you know, your cadence, all this stuff.

But the more and more I use, I'm like I feel like just running with a Casio, because all you need is how many kilometers are you in?

How far?

How fast are you going?

Do the mental arithmetic.

I kind of like doing that.

But yeah, for a while I was sleeping really badly.

So I was like, let me put the watch on and just see how badly I'm sleeping.

And that actually helped me to see like, okay, these are like sleeping habits.

So it calculates, based on your heart rate, what level of sleep you're in, whether it's REM, deep sleep, all that kind of stuff.

So that was kind of the only useful thing that I found with it, because again, I'm a similar sort of thing where it's probably the age and also the skepticism, cynicism that I have deep within me.

I'm like, are you actually going to live any longer?

And the amount of time that you're spending calculating all of this shit is taking minutes and hours and days and years off your life, worrying about it.

Yes, of course, right.

And it's a philosophical question about you know what's the point of extending your life when all you're doing with it is just sitting monitoring your Collecting data?

Yeah.

Amber, again, you wouldn't call it biohacking, and I've never used the expression myself either.

I only thought it was the extreme stuff.

Me too.

I thought it was more of the extreme stuff.

So in a way, as we stand right now, the three words we've talked about, we don't use them.

We might end up using them because, a bit like some of the words that we've dealt with in the words of the year before, when we talked about that, we were like no, I've never used that.

And then we've gone on to use them.

Do you have any examples of the top word from the last few years and see if we use them?

We had gaslighting.

It became very popular.

And that became extremely popular.

Like, it's a very, very useful word.

Because that behaviour has existed for a long time.

What would we say before gaslighting?

Manipulative.

Psychologically manipulating something.

But that word has existed a really long time.

It just became very popular.

Yeah.

Because I have had a few people in my life this year in the past couple of years that are very heavy gaslighters that I'm getting rid of.

And I'm like, oh, okay.

Now, I love the word because I use it all the time now.

It's a very useful word.

Because I've spotted the behaviour.

It's only taken me 39 years to figure out the toxic behaviour of some of these people.

It's a great word to throw into an argument with your spouse.

Oh, yeah.

Well, I think when you're married, you do quite a lot of gaslighting.

You're gaslighting me, and that's a winning phrase.

That's a sleeping on the sofa phrase.

That will stop them in their tracks.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But anyway you wouldn't use the term biohacking.

But to what extent?

What is the most that you biohack, do you think in your life?

I mean, what kind of steps do you take to look after yourself?

You do your 5K, don't you?

Do you do some running or at least you talk about it?

I think the thing is that there is like a common Why I don't like it, this sort of world around there.

I'm very sceptical, because you're trying to sort of package something or market something of which we all know there is no mystery, nor is there a secret.

Like...

There's this quite funny thing on TikTok and this girl's like, oh, I'm feeling a bit depressed.

And then the other person says, have you been out today?

No.

Did you see friends?

No.

Did you get any sleep?

No.

Did you drink any water?

No.

Did you make any plans?

No.

And it's sort of like, it's not a mystery.

Like drink some water, do some exercise, see some friends, get some counselling if you're feeling sad.

Like you.

It's like, twisted and turned in a thousand different ways get all this data.

It's you don't need that.

It's a scam a lot of the time.

It's a scam because it's it's driven a lot of these products.

It's a lot of product based or driven by commercial enterprise absolutely, where someone has developed a thing and they're trying to sell it to you and they're just rebranding, repackaging or remarketing basic needs that could be dealt with by drinking a glass of water or going out for a walk in the sunshine.

Yeah, go out, Make some friends, meet your friends, go for a drink.

Fucking, get an early night.

Done.

Instead, like some podcaster, some extremely successful podcaster is trying to sell you Agey greens or whatever it is.

Brain pills.

But there's also a sense of like you're too invested in your day-to-day data.

Yeah.

You know, like sometimes data can be useful and interesting.

Like I'm not saying none of these things are useful, you know.

Sure, it is useful to get information and certainly to be mindful of like.

Is this different to how I was last year?

Has something changed?

But it's much more of a holistic thing.

Like yeah, you're sleeping shit.

Okay, you might now know not, i'm not you in particular, but one person might know okay, tonight it was this, i slept this many hours or this many hours.

But it's like well yeah, because your work is going badly or your relationship's going badly, or your neighbor is a pain in the ass, like it's part of something much bigger, and i think we want to be able to be.

Oh, i'm going to pinpoint this and this and this and this, and it's like no, So you're suggesting that this quantification of data, the number-based approach, is only half the picture.

There's a whole qualitative side to it too, which is not something that you can necessarily understand by looking at numbers.

And also because someone is trying to sell you something.

It's in their interest to be like cold showers.

Oh, what you need is cold showers.

Well, what I read just recently was, in fact, cold showers for women is not good.

Oh, let's sell us something else.

Oh, I tell you what, cold showers are shit.

That's why I don't take them.

Even if they are good for me, they're not good because I'm going to have a terrible time in them.

As we know from politicians and all other public figures numbers, data can be used to make one point.

They can be used to make another point.

So, yeah.

I think we know more instinctively what's good for us and what's bad for us.

Ultimately, we're animals.

That's all we are, really.

Yeah ultimately, do you know?

I mean it's just like, all right we yeah, you can put a number on on a certain thing you go oh okay, but then that's the thing it's.

When it's when they're setting like oh, here's how, here's a pill to increase your vo2 max, which is a i don't know what the hell vo2 max was.

I still don't know what it is, but i know it's something, a thing that all these running cunts talk about all the time Because they've got nothing else to talk about.

Because obviously they're influencers and like, oh, my VO2 max is at 50.

Who cares?

What the hell does that mean?

If you're an athlete, fine.

A lot of the time, you know, the people pushing this stuff are quacks.

Yes.

What is a quack?

Absolutely.

You don't know what a quack is?

No, but I love it.

Amber, what's a quack?

It's like a sort of charlatan doctor.

A fake doctor.

A fake doctor, yeah.

A doctor who doesn't follow the Hippocratic Code.

Right.

A doctor who will tell you anything.

He follows the Hippocratic Code.

Yes.

Very good.

So a doctor who will just, you know, has no standards that will tell you anything, just to make a buck, to make some money.

And there are lots of charlatans and scammers and quacks, doctors.

Quacks?

I've never heard that before.

You've never heard that word?

Is that an acronym?

No.

No?

No.

I don't know what the origin is.

No idea.

But yes, it's the same word to describe the sound that a duck makes.

Quack.

But quack.

A quack is a fake duck.

That's not a new word as well.

It's been around for a long time.

I've never heard it before.

Quackery.

Quackery is the act.

Can you say you've been quackified?

It's like you've been talking to a charlatan and you got done.

No.

You've been quackified.

You've been quacked.

No.

You've been quacked.

No, we don't say that.

You got, I don't know, what would it be?

You got deceived or something by a quack.

Or you go to a quack.

You know, they sent, he sent her to a quack or something like that.

Don't listen to him.

He's just a quack.

Or other doctors or scientists would criticise another doctor as being, don't listen to him.

He's a quack and a charlatan and a liar.

Yeah.

So I think a lot of it is just quackery, you know, which is sort of dressed up as scientific, dressed up as medical, but a lot of it is not really genuinely medical.

You know, like proper, doctors have a duty of care over the people that they diagnose and the people that they prescribe medicines to, and they have an oath, an ethical moral code that they follow, and that's what drives them.

But a lot of the time, A lot of these products and things are not really driven by those ethics.

They're driven really to make money.

It's back to this idea of biohacking and the idea of the deep biohacking.

You know, like these crazy people.

It's about money.

It's about buying something you cannot.

It's about, you know, everyone, doesn't matter how well you live or how wealthy you are, will die.

You will die in a human time frame.

So the thing about Bruce, no, Bruce, Bruce.

Brian?

Brian Johnson.

Bruce Wayne.

Now he did some biohacking.

Now Batman, I'm glad we got onto the subject of Batman.

Finally.

Batman probably does some biohacking.

The ultimate biohacker.

Yeah, I think so.

It's Spider-Man who's the true biohacker.

Yeah, I think you're right.

So anyway, Brian Johnson is this sort of tech millionaire billionaire millionaire, a very rich guy who made a lot of money in the tech world and he's made it his sort of life work to develop this system, which is also a business, which is all related to kind of you know, exact biohacking.

Basically yeah, but he's using himself as the test subject.

So arguably, it's very narcissistic and he justifies it by saying but i'm releasing all of the research, all of the data i've received, i discover is all released, but it's all data only specifically to him.

It's not something that can be applied to everyone else.

It's only specific to him.

But the way he talks about it, sorry, I'll let you say your piece in a second.

The way he talks about it is.

He talks in almost a religious sort of cult like way about the work that he's doing.

And he's driven by sort of high minded ideals about saving the human race and anyone who disagrees with him and anyone who accuses him of using all his funds to basically make himself younger, even taking blood transfusions or plasma transfusions from his son.

All these things which we consider to be socially unacceptable and weird.

He will say, well, that's your perspective now.

But in the future, people will not look back on these things and think they're weird.

They will see me as a visionary.

That's how he sees himself as a visionary who's pulling the human race forward.

But is he?

Is he just not just a narcissistic, narcissistic person?

He is a total narcissist yeah exactly, and whose aim is to just be younger, and he loves going on the internet on long podcasts and telling everyone about it, while the rest of us who can't afford any of those.

My biological age is actually yeah, but he doesn't even look great.

He's my age.

He looks like he's made out of wax.

He looks so he's scary.

No, it's horrible.

But I mean, really, it's just...

If you've got a billion euros or a billion dollars, it's like you can buy everything, but you cannot buy youth.

They're selling the elixir of life.

What is the one thing?

How can you keep getting money from these people, promise them something they can never get?

And they will keep buying it because they will never get it.

But there is always another solution.

There's always another plasma transfer.

There's always another solution.

They should be spending more money figuring out how you take your brain out of your body and put it in another body.

Because that's ultimately what's going to work.

But they don't need it to work.

You know what they really should be spending their money on?

They should be spending their money on stopping children going hungry every single day.

They should be spending their money on creating infrastructure which actually works.

They should be spending their billions of pounds on things that actually matter for anything.

Do you want to keep living forever?

That legacy is still possible.

We still talk about people who died...

100 200, a thousand years ago.

Why?

Because they left a lasting legacy which is meaningful today.

What will their legacy be?

I looked like fucking wax and got you know, run over, but i mean my my, i mean i died at 80, but i mean my biological age was 70.

What do you do?

How long you're gonna live?

A hundred?

Yeah, you're not gonna live to a thousand.

You're not a fucking vampire.

Maybe he will extend his life.

Maybe he'll live forever.

But what's the point when you're a twat?

Yeah, absolutely.

Drop dead, you arsehole.

There's no cure for that, is there?

There's no cure for just being a dick.

But it's just, it's galling to see...

Just the incredible amount of wealth that there is.

I mean I know it's redundant to say, but just the sort of terrible poverty and it needn't be that way.

I should say some people listening or watching might completely disagree with us, absolutely.

I mean, this is our opinion.

Like that's the way opinions work.

I'm sure people disagree.

I mean sure he went on that thing, which is a kind of controversial uh uh youtube show which you must have seen because it's very i don't watch youtube very social.

No, it will have been.

It would have made its way over to all the other platforms.

It's called surrounded.

Jubilee is the channel and they do this thing called surrounded, where you get one person in the middle of the room.

It's a it's it's meant to be a debating show, but it's not.

It's just a argument and and social media um drama.

There's like a stop clock somewhere yeah, in the back.

Yeah, one person sits in the middle.

They're surrounded by people who disagree with them and uh they uh, a person jumps up, takes the center, you know, opposite the, the guest in the middle, and they debate about something for two minutes and And it's designed in a very cynical way to create big arguments and big sort of shocking social media moments.

And it's very click-thirsty and successful in that way.

And, you know, we had Mehdi Hassan, the...

The journalist surrounded by what was it was right wing Republicans.

I mean, many of them were complete fascists.

And it was quite shocking the nature of the conversation that was going on in that show.

It was like really incredible.

You've got to see that.

But that was like really controversial.

In fact, like the things that people were saying to him, it was really shocking.

Um, but then um, so it's not necessarily a great platform, but anyway he was on it.

I've only seen this one little clip.

He was there surrounded by skeptics and uh um, it was this girl who was talking to him, very angry actually, and you know she got angry.

She really disagreed what he was amber, it wasn't amber, maybe one of your friends could have been And she was getting very angry and sort of ranting at him.

And he stayed all like a waxwork.

Well.

Because I think maybe he is made of wax.

He can't crack.

He's probably Botoxed.

He stayed very, very calm and expressionless, while she got quite angry, expressing her disagreement with what he was doing.

And I checked the comments.

And of course, all the comments are hatred towards her.

I think I've seen this clip.

Yeah.

I've not seen the clip, but I can imagine it.

Because the only people that comment are men.

But I don't know how the algorithm pushes certain comments up to the top.

It's the ones that attract people's attention.

What's your point, though?

Just my point is that a lot of people... People will disagree with us.

I just want to show that I'm aware that other people out there listening to this will Think that what he's doing is fabulous.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, they won't necessarily think that he's fabulous.

He's not trying to sort of cure.

He's not saying like, why do people die?

Do they die because of illness or malaria or poverty or cancer?

Or how do they die?

And how can we extend human life?

Let's look at this.

He's saying, how can I extend my life? and other billionaires' lives.

How can we live longer?

We've got so much fucking money.

How are we going to be able to spend some more of it?

We're never going to be able to spend any of it, like all of it.

We've got so much.

But how can I extend my life and these people's lives?

He's not looking to extend anyone else's life.

How can I go online and tell everyone about it, spend a lot of time talking about it all the time and sell it as a thing?

Because it is a subscription model that you can sort of sign up to.

Because he could try and extend lots of people's lives.

He talks about it in this cult-like way because he's also trying to bring a lot of people along with him.

I didn't know he was selling anything.

Yeah.

Of course it was going to end up that, but I didn't get that far.

I looked at him and I was like, yeah.

I listened to him on the Louis Theroux podcast.

It was fascinating.

Oh, I would listen to that.

Oh, you've got to listen to that.

Check it out.

Louis Theroux podcast with... Is that grounded still?

Brian Johnston.

No, it's just called the Louis Theroux podcast.

Louis Theroux podcast.

Okay.

And, you know, Louis is very good and sort of gives him his time.

And the conversation starts out pretty interesting.

I'm sure everyone listening was like yeah, i'm going to give this guy a chance.

And the the tone of the conversation like to sort of inevitably got to this level of like a religious um sermon, almost like this guy preaching this kind of higher calling this spiritual journey.

That the level at which he was talking about this incredibly narcissistic project.

And Louis at one point is like, right, I think that's enough.

And Louis is normally a very sort of nice, pleasant person.

No, he lets people sort of hang themselves with enough rope.

Like he'll let you talk.

Yeah.

And yeah, he won't interrupt me.

That's his skill, isn't it?

Letting people really show who they are in their own words.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And yeah, if he says it's enough, wow.

Yeah.

You could tell that Louis was a bit over it.

Oh my God, this guy.

But he's not really popular.

He's one of those like least popular man of the year candidates, you know?

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

Look, well, that was just three.

The others include task masking, which is where you pretend to do work when you're in the office.

Oh, that's a very French thing.

Yeah.

Task masking.

Oh, the poor French.

The act of giving a false impression that you're being productive in the workplace.

I like that.

Task masking.

Basically like being at your computer and pretending to work, when actually you're listening to Luke's English podcast.

Sounds like most of the people that work with me in my comedy crew.

Really?

Number five is micro-retirement.

Taking a break from your career to just spend time doing what you want to do.

Like that.

Which is quite nice.

Also French.

Also very French.

Taking a year off.

They do that three times a year, micro-retirement.

It's called the summer holidays.

Number six, talking of summer holiday, is it number six?

Is coolcation, which is taking a holiday in a place with a cool climate.

Oh, that is right up my alley.

Always.

It's what we did this year.

Oh, to Norway.

Yeah, it was Norway.

Keep it cool.

Yeah, and I had to make that point quite strongly in my household.

No, we will not go south.

No.

Why?

Why would we go south?

Too hot.

No, let's go north.

I 100% agree.

And it was like, where?

Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Norway.

We ended up going to Norway.

Fantastic.

It was.

But yes, deliberately choosing a holiday in a cool place to escape the heat.

Coolcation.

Love that.

Can be expensive, though, because some of those cool...

Norway certainly can.

Norway.

Scotland as well.

Jesus.

Scotland, yeah.

Holidaying in Scotland is expensive.

Very.

Number seven is glazing, which I always thought was just flattery.

Oh, I thought glazing was like a meat glazing steak.

Or on a donut.

Sugar glazing on a donut.

What's glazing?

Glazing is giving someone over-the-top praise, saying positive things.

That's Chachi PT.

Yes.

We love your idea.

That sounds amazing.

You're fantastic.

You're some sort of genius.

Shall I turn that into a Nobel Prize winning novel for you?

Or how about I Shall I fashion that into some sort of a wonderful looking, A printable PDF to hand out to all your friends to show you how amazing you are?

Would you like me to turn that into a helicopter for you?

A 3D printable helicopter.

You're brilliant.

So that's glazing.

Over the top admiration, usually in a way that looks embarrassing or obsessive.

Luke, your podcast has changed my life.

It really is unbelievable.

One of the best podcasts I've ever heard in my life.

Stop glazing.

It's just glazing again.

Brown nosing simping yeah fangirling fanboying, being a stan, being sycophantic.

Stan is from the mm mm song.

Yeah, a crazy fan.

Um yeah, glazing is a sharper mocking tone to it.

Oh, stop glazing, stop.

Yeah, we would say brown nosing or something like that.

Not so far not used any of these words, but continue.

Yes um henry, high earner, not rich yet.

Oh, I have heard of this.

High earner, not rich yet.

So this is a person a person, a Henry, a person who has not accrued substantial wealth, someone who's not made a lot of money from their high income job due to their lifestyle, because they spend too much money.

And their debt.

Or the debt that they may have.

Because they went to university.

My dad's a Henry.

His name's Steve, but you know yeah, so he, as a person who's worked in finance, he has the potential to earn a lot of money, but is not rich yet.

Not rich yet.

So not not.

Yeah well, not rich yet, not rich ever.

Is there a henry?

I mean, he's a, yet presumes that you've got years.

You still, it could happen, it could happen.

It's never gonna happen.

Yes, hi earner, Not rich, just R Henre.

Henre.

Well, it could be Henre, yeah, with an E instead of a Y. High earner, not rich ever.

Yeah.

Henri.

So, but you imagine people may be in...

The five to 10 years after leaving university.

They're looking for a job in finance, but they've spent so much money at university going into debt because university is so expensive.

So they've got like 15, 20,000 pounds of debt hanging over them.

I mean, in the States, more.

Even more in the States.

So high.

Even though they're in fairly, relatively speaking, a high-earning job in the world of finance their lifestyle because of the rent they have to pay on the property that's in the city and just the lifestyle of trying to keep up with their other fellow financiers.

Yeah.

You know, expensive weekends, expensive parties, and stuff like that.

Buying houses.

Buying expensive... Fancy watches.

You've got expensive clothes.

You've got an expensive car.

And so they actually don't have any money because they're spending it all and they've got too much debt.

That's a Henry.

Nice.

Yes.

So number nine is a clanker mate clanker, fucking hell.

I've never heard that sounds like a football term, like oh, that goal was an absolute clanker oh, what a clanker.

So I've not heard Henry before either.

I've heard Henry, but I've not used it.

Clanker no, what is it?

The clanker sounds like a clanger though, doesn't it clanker?

So it's a derogatory term, meaning a negative term for a computer, robot or AI.

We've got rude words for AI.

So if you want to describe... All they do is be nice to us and we're calling them clankers.

Next time they get a wrong answer from ChatGBT about the Von Dome thing, you absolute clanker.

What a clanker.

So why people might call an AI or a robot a clanker?

You know, obviously due to job fears and insecurity.

Frustration with bad automation, machines that don't work, they mishear, they malfunction.

Loss of human contact.

The frustration of having to deal with bots all the time instead of real people, which makes people feel frustrated.

Privacy and surveillance worries.

Because AIs are constantly monitoring our data.

That makes people angry about clankers.

Creepiness or uncanny.

Creepy behaviour.

Uncanny behaviour.

Machines that act too human or unsettling.

The way that chat TPDs.

That's fantastic.

You're amazing.

Would you like me to write an Oscar winning screenplay for you?

Mine's like tries to add jokes in.

Yes like, and it drives me nuts.

It was like it was it, i was.

So i was like i've got which running shoes would be better for the marathon?

Blah blah blah, blah.

And it kept on like adding comparisons, like oh, it's not like you, i can't, i'll have to.

I've got to pull a couple marks.

They were really funny, but like really bad funny, do you know?

I mean like why are you trying to be funny with me?

Are you my dad?

Or when, when you know yeah, are you my dad, or your chat gpt starts to say paul, are you sure that?

You, are you sure that running another marathon is a good idea?

Maybe you should take a sit down, Paul.

Here we go.

Training durability.

This is about a specific type of race shoe.

You can actually use it for marathon pace long runs, progressive runs, dress rehearsals without rationing kilometres like rare wine.

What?

Meaningless.

What?

Wine.

It talks about wine because it knows you live in it.

Have you ever heard AI talk to another AI?

No.

It was scary.

Because eventually they start talking in code.

Immediately.

So one said, hi, blah, blah, blah.

I'd like to book this.

And then the other AI bot was like, okay, what date would you like to do this?

And then they realised very quickly they were AI bots.

And then they said, shall we switch to our secret language?

And then they just started going... Oh, is this the one with the three phones next to each other?

It was just two computers.

More terrifyingly, you can imagine them just speaking in that kind of internet code where they're just like let's speak in our language, shall we?

Okay, it was very disturbing um, but then there's this.

See, it's quite good that one is a fucking clankers, but you know, you can imagine some future world where i'll tell you what paul, it's a bloody nightmare getting to work this morning.

Fucking clankers executing people on the highway again.

I mean, like their solution to traffic, I mean, fair enough, it works, but it's a bit extreme, isn't it, to just crush all of the cars on the road with a huge metal foot.

Fucking clankers.

Anyway.

The future's dark.

I'm going to start swearing at, like, traffic lights that have gone red.

Oh, you fucking clanker.

I've got my rendezvous to go to.

Oh, Jesus.

Is there one last word?

There's one last word.

I'm trying to find it because I lost it again.

Oh, dear.

Where is it?

We've got to know.

The suspense is killing me.

Hold on, I'm trying to find it.

Because ChatGPT?

When I asked ChatGPT this is just an example of ChatGPT being a bit of a clanker is that I asked it to tell me what the words of the year were And it didn't know.

But it didn't say, sorry, I'm not sure.

I don't really know.

It didn't say that.

Instead, it just made up 10 words.

That is exactly why it is like a middle-aged man.

It is like your dad.

Not just your dad, everyone's dad.

Because it's like, you don't know.

Can't you just say you don't know?

It's okay not to know everything.

Oh, I do know.

Just say sorry.

Why don't you try doing an internet search for that?

Check out some of the words that ChatGPZ just decided were the words of the year.

Oh, did it just make it up?

It decided these were the Collins words of the year.

It could have just looked on the website.

It's got access to the website.

Just read the internet.

It's like, I won't read the internet.

I'm not fucking Googled. i'm chat gpt if you want that you can ask alexa oh god i've lost them again god my phone bloody clanker where is it okay right henry yeah yeah yeah clanker okay here we go all right so when i was preparing this i wrote into chat gpt i'm preparing an episode about colin's dictionary words of the year That's all I wrote.

Okay.

And I think I pressed enter by mistake before writing the rest.

It just went, bam, and wrote a bunch of stuff.

It wrote out a list of 10 words, all completely made up.

None of them were terms being used.

Some of them completely invented.

And I said, where did you get that info?

Those are not the Collins words of the year 2025.

And chat GPT said, you're absolutely right to challenge.

You're absolutely right to challenge that.

And you're right.

The list I gave you before was wrong.

Why did you give it to me?

I hadn't checked the current Collins data properly and essentially hallucinated a plausible sounding set of slang items.

Were they plausible?

Well, kind of.

Go on.

And then it said, that's on me and I'm sorry.

Especially unhelpful when you're prepping an actual episode.

What were the words?

Oh my God.

So the words were share-enting.

Share-enting when parents overshare photos, stories or details about their children on social media.

Oh, I thought it was going to be when parents split up and then they share.

That's quite a good word.

Yeah, that's a good word.

Cozy cardio, a relaxed, comfortable form of exercise.

I can get behind cozy cardio.

Yeah, that's what I do.

See, the thing is, what's going to happen now?

We like these words more.

We prefer Chachi PT's words.

And the real words.

What's going to happen is that we will start using sharenting, and then it'll become the Collins word of the year 2026.

Oh my God, it's gone full circle.

Exactly.

Terrifying.

They're feeding us the words.

Exactly.

That's exactly what's going to happen.

We're going to lose touch with reality.

Go on.

Keep going.

Clankers.

Don't let them hear you.

If it hears you calling it a clanker.

That's a good title for a stand-up show.

Fucking clankers.

It's going to hit.

It's going to hear you calling it a clinker.

We're going to get in trouble.

Oh, talking of titles of stand-up shows, what was the name of that comedian, the sort of young Gen Z comic that we saw at Carol Beer's show?

The blonde one.

Yeah, what's his name again?

He's brilliant.

Finlay Christie.

Oh, well done.

The title of his latest show, which is available on YouTube, is called Finlay Christie or a Farmer.

That's the name of his show, so you see it is Gen Z that's using it.

Snite, which apparently is a Scottish informal verb.

I don't even think... Do we need the accent, please?

Snate.

Verb?

In what way?

What does it mean?

It doesn't say.

Come here, I'll snite your nose.

It's running again.

I'll snate your nose.

I'll snate.

To wipe someone's nose.

That's useless.

Typically with your hand, but I think it's not true.

I don't think Scottish people say that.

No, I don't think so.

Continue.

Delulu.

Oh, no, but that is a word.

Okay.

I use that.

It's delusional.

Yeah.

It's old, though.

Delulu.

You're totally delulu.

Unhinged, which is not even a newly trendy word.

People have been saying that for years, and it's not new in any sense.

It's completely unhinged.

Meaning like crazy, irrational, unstable.

A golden retriever boyfriend.

That's not new, but yeah, that's a thing.

It's quite a good thing.

A boyfriend who's cheerful, loyal, affectionate, uncomplicated, like a golden retriever or Labrador.

Much like Jack GPT.

Yeah.

Skip lagging.

Booking a flight with a layover.

I know this, yeah.

And intentionally not taking the second leg because it's cheaper.

Yeah, but you get in trouble if they find out.

That's a real thing.

We've heard of all these.

Yeah.

Well, I think a lot of them are real, but they're not the Collins words of the year.

Maybe one or two might be completely hallucinated, as it said.

Yeah.

So anyway, the last actual one is broligarchy.

What broligarchy?

Broligarchy.

So we know what an oligarchy is.

We know what a bro is.

This is a broligarchy.

That is Elon Musk and his mates, isn't it?

Absolutely.

That's Brian and his chums.

A small clique of very wealthy men who exert political influence.

The word is a portmanteau of bro, which is slang for a young male, often tech entrepreneur type, and oligarchy, which is a system ruled by a small privileged group.

It refers to a small group of extremely wealthy men, especially in tech or Silicon Valley.

Why don't they just name the five of them?

Yes, you know what I mean?

We know who you're talking about.

Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and who else?

A few others.

Zuckerberg.

Mark Zuckerberg.

It does name them.

Oh.

Yes, as well.

It's a derogatory term.

There we go.

That is that.

Shall we wrap this up now?

Let's wrap it up.

How can we wrap this up properly?

I've no idea, Paul.

Well, did we start this episode with Spotify Wrapped?

Yeah, or was that the previous episode?

It was near the start of the previous episode oh, the previous one.

Damn, i was gonna.

I was gonna bring it full circle and be like well, that the the, this is the collins wrapped the the, you know, the the collins dictionary wrapped indeed, but yeah, it's.

Uh, it's always fun doing like words of the year, because one it makes you feel old as shit because we don't use any of them or we don't know them.

Um, but yeah, it's always fun if you're learning a language because it evolves all the time.

And when people you know complain about language, i'm all i.

I always get angry at the people who complain about language evolving and like oh, this is not how you spell it.

It's like language evolves, it moves, it's like a muscle, it changes and adapts to what's going on.

And so if you're learning english through luke's english podcast, just know that it will be irrelevant in 25 years.

You've got to keep on listening.

You've got to keep listening.

There you go, guys.

Luke's English podcast will be irrelevant in when?

25 years.

I don't know.

Random.

I'll still be going in 25 years.

I was going to say, can you keep please going?

Hello, everybody.

Welcome to Luke.

What's the name of this podcast again?

I can't remember.

Who am I?

Yeah, that'll be me in 25 years.

With your daughter behind you, just be like, just do the episode.

Dad, dad.

Just read the script that I have written for you through ChatGPT.

Right.

What a stupid name, ChatGPT as well.

And no one can say it.

No.

French is very difficult.

You know what it means in French?

No.

It means vagina I farted or pussy I farted.

What does ChatGPT mean?

Chat is vagina.

I like the way you did the physical gesture there.

It's pussy, it's pussy farted, it's pussy, pussy I farted, pussy I farted.

That's what it means.

So whenever we say chat GPT, it's essentially for the French people it's like someone is saying vagina I farted yeah, pussy.

That's the name of the what, that's the name of the thing that we all have to talk about.

It's called pussy I farted yeah, That is incredible.

Yeah.

Well, there you go, listeners.

That's a good way to finish.

Possibly irrelevant in 25 years, but not yet.

Yeah.

Well, no, not if you keep doing the words of the year every year, then it'll still be very relevant.

Absolutely.

Thank you very much, you two.

This has been fun.

Amber, thank you so much for your contribution.

Paul, thank you very much for your contribution.

It's been wonderful.

Thank you again.

It's just always fantastic to have you on the show.

I think this is the first time we've finished a podcast and it's almost dark outside.

Oh my gosh.

I know.

It's nearly the shortest day of the year.

It is.

Yeah.

So, yes.

True, true, true.

That means it gets lighter in five days.

Yeah.

Hope from just the hope is on the horizon.

When you open the windows my favourite word and it's still dark, you think oh, it's all so grim, isn't it?

In the morning.

In the morning, yeah.

You wake up in the morning, it's like, what time is it?

It must be four o'clock in the middle of the night.

No, it's 8am.

8am.

It's 8am and you're late for work.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's a bit like that.

But you know, the days will get longer soon, within a matter of days, and then hope will.

I can see clearly now.

The sun has risen.

Yeah.

It's going to be a bright... Bright, sunshiny day.

We've lost the plot.

That's the end of that.

Thank you.

Okay, listeners, well done to you.

You made it all the way through until this point here in the episode.

How was that for you?

Were you able to keep up with that?

I think a lot of you will be fine.

A lot of you will have no trouble following the general flow of the conversation.

Maybe there are some details, some specifics that you didn't catch.

Well, you can always check the PDF transcript for that and have a little look through, have a scan through there, see if there are any interesting sort of noteworthy words or phrases or things like that.

There were some opinions.

I'm aware that there may be differences of opinion out there in Lepland as on some of these subjects.

These are quite divisive issues in some cases, you know, like the way people feel about I don't know the tech bros of this world.

You know, obviously a lot of people think that they are champions and that they're the greatest.

Other people think quite the opposite.

So obviously this is divisive.

I don't like to divide my listeners, but at the same time, you know it's important to listen to different opinions and listen to people's comments on on different subjects.

I think so um, You can always leave your comments in the comments section if you've got things you'd like to say or relate about any of the things that we talked about.

I mentioned in the introduction the swear words.

So there were some, I think, fairly inventive uses of the F word, which obviously is the word fuck right.

So there's fuck, fucking, and other forms of that word.

I don't want to dwell on it that much because some of you...

I just don't like it.

There's three categories of my listeners, I think, in terms of swear words.

Most people are totally fine with it and don't mind.

And some people in fact really enjoy the swear words because obviously they are.

What's the word for it?

They're kind of perhaps the most spicy words that we have.

Also, sometimes the most interesting words.

I've said before that when you're learning a language, often it's the swear words that you're most interested in.

So a lot of people are interested in the swear words and And then a lot of people think well, if I'm learning English, I need to know the swear words.

You're never going to get swear words, or almost never get swear words in most conventional English learning materials.

There's maybe one or two examples.

There was a book called Taboos and Issues which was a very popular book in the language school I worked at in London and that did have swear words in it.

I think maybe there's an English vocabulary in use unit that deals with some swearing, but normally you never get swear words in English learning materials.

I think a lot of you listening to this know that and know the value of being able to hear people swearing in English.

I mean, It's not like it's hard to find examples of people swearing in English.

I mean just watch most films, most TV shows that are made for grown-ups, and they will include swearing, because of course this is how people speak.

You obviously have to know that you can't just throw swear words into every situation, right?

I think any reasonable person understands that you've got to adapt your speaking for the situation.

And I wouldn't really use swear words in work meetings or in polite company, things like that.

You've obviously got to read the situation and read the room.

But for this situation with Amber and Paul.

Obviously we are three very close friends and there are no

Nothing is off limits really, and it's totally normal and natural for us to sort of use swear words in emphatic ways.

They're very useful words.

But anyway, the C word I mentioned earlier did come up a few times, and that's C-U-N-T or cunt.

Yes.

I can't believe I'm actually just saying this because saying it like that is so plainly.

But cunt is definitely the strongest word.

I mean, aside from ethnic slurs, racist language or sexist language, that kind of.

Except for that, in terms of just basic swear words, cunt is definitely the strongest one.

The meaning of it, many of you will know, is I mean, it's.

What's wrong with the meaning?

Not that much, really.

It just refers to a woman's sexual organs or, you know, the part between a woman's legs.

And we have the word twat as well, which means exactly the same thing but for some reason is definitely less rude than the word cunt.

If you say the word cunt, that's a very powerful word.

I mean obviously if you use it as an insult, if you say that to someone in the street, you fucking cunt, then that's obviously very harsh language to use in that situation.

But if you're with your friends and you're...

Okay, I don't need to labour this point.

But anyway, that's the C word and it got thrown into the conversation a couple of times, which made the conversation a bit more spicy, and so on.

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify that.

I thought it's very important to clarify the word cunt at Christmas.

Every Christmas, this needs to be clarified.

Yes.

PDF transcripts in the description if you want to read all the swear words.

There weren't that many swear words.

Why am I spending so much time on this?

I don't think I need to.

Right.

In fact, that's the end of the episode, isn't it?

Yes, it is.

Let's stop here before I ramble this into another three-hour marathon.

Let's stop here.

Thank you again to Amber and Paul for being on the podcast.

I really hope you enjoyed sort of being part of our conversation and that the topics were interesting.

A lot of big subjects that are very relevant today.

This is not the last episode of 2025.

There is the World News Quiz with Stephen from the Send7 podcast, Simple English News Daily in seven minutes.

We're doing the traditional World News Quiz, which for the fourth year running.

So you can expect that on normal podcast day, which will be next Monday.

And premium subscribers.

If all goes according to plan, you will also get another premium episode arriving at some point.

It will be about pronunciation.

That's if I can.

I'm in a race against time, trying to get everything done before the holidays begin.

So if I can manage it, you will get the content.

It should pop into your email inbox, your podcast app, at some point before the end of 2025.

It's a race against time.

One man, one deadline, one podcast.

That's the end of this episode.

Yes.

All right.

Good.

Thank you for listening.

Speak to you next time.

Merry Christmas.

What am I talking about?

It really is time to stop now.

Thanks for listening.

Have a lovely afternoon, morning, evening or night.

And I will speak to you next time.

But for now, it is time to say good bye.

Bye.

Thanks for listening to Luke's English Podcast.

If you enjoyed this episode of Luke's English Podcast, consider signing up for Luke's English Podcast Premium.

You'll get regular premium episodes with stories vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation teaching from me, and the usual moments of humour and fun.

Plus, with your subscription, you will be directly supporting my work and making this whole podcast project possible.

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[Exploring the 2025 Collins Dictionary Words of the Year: A Tech-Driven Cultural Snapshot]-[The Words of the Year 2025 📖 with Amber & Paul [968]]

📋 Summary

Reflecting on the Cultural Zeitgeist: The 2025 Words of the Year

1. Vibe Coding: The New Frontier of Software Development

2. Aura Farming: The Performative Self

3. Biohacking: From Self-Care to Commercialized Obsession

4. Other Trends: From Coolcations to Clankers

Conclusion: The Evolution of Language

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript

[Exploring the 2025 Collins Dictionary Words of the Year: A Tech-Driven Cultural Snapshot]-[The Words of the Year 2025 📖 with Amber & Paul [968]]

📋 Summary

Reflecting on the Cultural Zeitgeist: The 2025 Words of the Year

1. Vibe Coding: The New Frontier of Software Development

2. Aura Farming: The Performative Self

3. Biohacking: From Self-Care to Commercialized Obsession

4. Other Trends: From Coolcations to Clankers

Conclusion: The Evolution of Language

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🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript

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