Labubu, skibidi and delulu enter their dictionary era, for better or worse

If you think a Labubu is the solulu, you’re delulu. And if that sentence boils your blood, then best to skip this column for health reasons. What follows is news on the new, those words sidling into English as dictionaries declare midyear intakes.

Labubu is the Furby of the TikTok generation. Picture a plush ogre-elf with the adrenaline of surprise, since a purchaser doesn’t know which Labubu hides in its “blind box”. Made by China’s Pop Mart, the Labubu is owning pop culture, and may yet for another week. In its wake will lie a midden of packing peanuts and a brand in the glossary.

As for delulu (the Insta snip of deluded) and solulu (solution), K-pop fans have popularised the slang, boosted by our own Anthony Albanese, who dubbed the opposition in March as “delulu with no solulu”. Fun, fresh, but bound to be passé before a sparkler can sputter.

Guardian writer Lee Escobedo calls the trend “prank-as-expression” – akin to Trump’s late-night covfefe or Gretchen’s bid to make “fetch” happen in Mean Girls. Skibidi is all that, a coinage built on the joy of saying it, whatever it means. Cambridge makes a brave attempt, saying the skate-bowl exclamation equates to cool, or bad, which kinda evokes Aunt Maude explaining cheugy to her niece.

Away from teen-talk, work and AI are prime turbines. Slop was once the stuff of piggeries and prisons, but now applies to the spam-like mediocrity of AI text. Call me a decel if you must – an advocate of slowing AI’s inroads – but the deeper the slop infiltrates our online lives, the more the promise of “digital asbestos” rings true.

Work-wise, presuming AI stands apart, English has been fruitful. Sunlighting is the flipside of moonlighting, where an employee works that extra job with the boss’ knowledge. Sunday scaries, on the other hand, identify those late-weekend jitters of project deadlines resurfacing. As for leaving work, there’s either conscious quitting (resigning due to unshared values) or flextirement (a gradual transition from office life to golf handicap).

WFH (Working From Home) has likewise spawned coffee badging (lingering long enough in your traditional office to be seen by colleagues) and wanderpreneur (a digital drifter incubating start-ups). Sly geeks at firms such as Vaydeer and Rii have conjured a mouse jiggler, a gizmo that can agitate your mouse in absentium. Why, you ask? The virtuous reason is to prevent your computer from lapsing into sleep mode. The sneakier motive is to simulate busyness to an off-site boss. In short, a slacker’s solulu.

On the relationship front, a work spouse (that close-but-platonic cubicle offsider) differs from a tradwife, a Stepford epitome of the other half, at home with kids and DIY pie. Macquarie meanwhile has adopted almond mum, courtesy of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. This is a parent who relays their food neuroses onto their child, a potential red flag amid this Western epidemic of eating disorders.

Just as loaded is cowardcore – the barb aimed at Target US for its timid promotion of Pride month. Rather than emphatic messaging, the retailer opted for rainbow-ish strings on an oatmeal hoodie, the laces whispering “Out Loud And Proud” so only labradors could hear. Whether these words will last until December, we’ll have to lewk (fashion-ese for glimpse) by the time the partridge perches in the pear tree. Who knows? Santa might even bring you a Labubu.

Get tips, tricks and word games from our crosswords guru, plus links to our online puzzles and quizzes, delivered to your inbox every Saturday. Sign up for our Puzzled with David Astle newsletter.