Just as it has in years past, Oxford University Press said it again enlisted the public’s help in choosing its word. More than 37,000 people voted this year.

The first recorded use of “brain rot,” according to Oxford University Press, was in Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, published in 1854.

Oxford, it must be noted, is not the only language kingmaker. In recent weeks, there have also been Word of the Year announcements from Cambridge University Press (“manifest”) and Dictionary ...