Hey, tech fam. Gather ’round. We need to have a serious talk about the state of our vocabulary. The linguists over at Dictionary.com have officially thrown in the towel. After years of tracking our evolving language, they’ve declared the 2025 Word of the Year… and it’s not even a word.
That’s right. The winner is “67.”
Not “AI-nxiety.” Not “quantum-bro.” Not even “prompt-lash.” Just two numbers, side-by-side, pronounced “six-seven,” and used with the confident chaos of a Gen Alpha who just mainlined a bag of Skittles.
Let’s break down how we got here.
The “Meaning” of 67 (Spoiler: It Has None)
So, what does “67” mean? According to the experts, it’s an all-purpose interjection that is “meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical.” You stub your toe? “67!” Your code finally compiles? “67!” You see a particularly compelling pigeon? “67!”
Its origins are as gloriously absurd as the word itself. It’s traced to a song by rapper Skrilla and was turbocharged by viral TikToks, including one of a young fan, now known as the “67 Kid,” who simply shouted it with unhinged joy. It’s the digital equivalent of the “Wilhelm Scream”—a shared, inside joke that makes no sense but binds a generation.
Dictionary.com itself admitted this is the ultimate example of “brain rot”—last year’s Word of the Year from Oxford. It’s not a word; it’s a vibe. A glitch in the matrix. A linguistic placeholder for a feeling that doesn’t have a definition. And honestly? We respect it.
The Runners-Up Were Barely Trying, Either
While “67” took the crown, the other dictionaries were playing in the same sandbox of semantic surrender.
- Cambridge Dictionary went with “Parasocial,” which is just a fancy, academic way of saying “you think your favorite AI chatbot is your best friend.” We’ve all been there, asking GPT-5 for life advice at 2 a.m. Don’t @ us.
- Collins Dictionary chose “Vibe Coding,” a term that perfectly captures the modern developer’s workflow: staring blankly at a screen, mumbling a half-formed thought into an AI co-pilot, and hoping for the best. It’s not programming; it’s a séance for software.
See a pattern? Our language is collapsing under the weight of tech-induced social shifts. We’re either bonding with machines, building software with vibes, or communicating in pure, abstract numbers.
Why This is a Glorious Victory for Tech Culture
At Ztec100.com, we don’t see this as the end of language. We see it as its next evolutionary step.
“67” is the perfect word for our times because it’s low-bandwidth, high-impact communication. In a world of information overload, sometimes you don’t need a nuanced adjective. You just need a two-digit error code from the universe.
It’s the ultimate API response for human emotion. Error 67: Feeling successfully conveyed. Meaning undefined.
It’s also beautifully efficient. Why say, “I am experiencing a complex mixture of bewildered amusement and mild existential dread” when you can just shout “67!” and have your entire friend group instantly understand the assignment?
So, the next time you’re in a meeting and the project manager asks for a status update, just look them dead in the eye and say, “Sixty-seven.” They might not get it. But the interns will. And they are the future.
-The Team 67 at Ztec100.com