The song lyric goes, “everything old is new again”. But sometimes that’s not true, especially when it comes to slang. Popular slang for the most part does not age well. I mean, really. Who says “groovy” anymore? (OK, I do.) But seriously, one of the reasons why kids think their parents don’t understand them is that parents don’t understand their kids’ slang. 

I mean, really. How do you explain things like “6 7”? Maybe I just live in a metaphorical hole in the ground, but nobody has explained it sufficiently well to me. 

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The word of the year. 

The idea of a word of the year goes back as far as 1945, but. It really became official in 1990 when the American Dialect Society voted to have “bushlips” become the word of the year for 1990. (Don’t ask me for a definition.) 

Every year since, we’ve had a word of the year. This year Dictionary.com is following the tradition and they have selected their word of the year. Which is. 

Maxxing 

According to axios.com,
‘Dictionary.com named “maxxing” its 2026 Word of the Year, reflecting a culture obsessed with getting the most out of everything.
The word’s explosive popularity reflects society’s relentless drive to optimize everything — from earnest self-improvement to giving everyday activities comical nicknames. There’s a “maxxing” for just about everything.’ 

We have a tendency in our society to take a modern habit or trait and then create a word to describe it. Reducing it to the minimum number of characters that would be required to use it in a text or online post.  

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There’s a certain elegance in the economy of motion required to express a thought in social media with the minimum number of characters. But to my way of thinking, the downside is, there’s also an economy of thought required to express the idea? 

I’m going to proudly wear my grumpy old fart hat when I say that we seem to be texting more, and thinking less. I will have a conversation over a text or e-mail any day. 

I don’t have any facts to back this up, but I believe that my grandparents probably felt the same way about talking on the telephone. They would much rather have had a face-to-face conversation than try to communicate through a piece of plastic and wire. 

I know I’m getting off the subject. 

The word maxxing really gains its identity with the second x. Using maxxing as a modifier. Fitnessmaxxing, Looksmaxxing, Frictionmaxxing. Proteinmaxxing. Really, the possibilities are uncountable. I’m sure that when my kids were teenagers if they knew about maxxing, they would refer to me as dorkmaxing.

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