As of: 10/25/2022 7:43 a.m
The salacious term “smash” has been voted youth word of the year. It can mean “to pick someone up” or “to have sex with someone”. This use of the word dates back to a smartphone game.
“Smash” is the youth word of the year. The term from the English prevailed in an online survey by Langenscheidt-Verlag among young people with 43 percent.
“Smash” is mainly used as a verb (“smashen”) and means something like “start something with someone”, “pick someone up” or “have sex with someone”. The object of desire can also be a “smash” with which to have a small “smash” (rivalry). This year’s winner was developed from the dating game “Smash or Pass”. Potential partners are either accepted as a “smash” or rejected as a “pass”. In English, on the other hand, the word is used in the sense of “smash”, “smash” or “break”.
The youth word “smash” can mean “to have sex with someone”.
Image: dpa
In second place in this year’s vote for the youth word of the year was “bottomless” (lousy, unbelievably bad) with 33 percent, in third place is “doer” (24 percent), i.e. someone who gets things done. Last year, the winning word was “cringe” – shame on others. An embarrassing situation is called “cringy”.
Regular criticism of the publisher’s campaign
Langenscheidt has been publishing the youth word of the year since 2008 – at that time “Gammelfleischparty” (over 30 party) won. However, the selection has often been criticized in the past as an advertising campaign by the publisher. In the three-stage online voting process, participants can suggest terms and vote for their favorites. According to Sandra Spier, press spokeswoman for the publisher, all age groups can theoretically vote, but since 2020 only the votes of young people have been counted. Discriminatory and offensive terms will be deleted by the publisher.