sus

Suspicious, or suspect, clipped; a slang word with roots in British police jargon and 2000s American English that Among Us handed to the entire planet in 2020 as the only word needed to accuse a crewmate. The record notes 'sus' is now used by children who have never played the game and by adults who have never stopped.

The Among Us crewmate, seen in everything — a fire hydrant, a sandwich, a cloud — and named 'amogus' in a voice of exhausted recognition. The 2021 meme about a meme being everywhere, which then was. The record's entry for shape recognition as a joke.

Finding the impostor on a spaceship, two years after release and during a lockdown. Left the language a single word, sus, which is doing better than the game.

Suspicious idiot, in two borrowed slang words. Said ironically, then unironically by children, then ironically again by adults, then never.

The scrolling column beside a stream, with its own language, emotes and personality — 'chat' as a collective noun, a chorus, and an authority. The record's entry for the audience that talks back, and the reason 'chat, is this real' makes sense.

Content optimised past the point of meaning, and the mental state of having consumed it. The first internet term that is also a self-diagnosis.

'Bro', flattened into a sound of disbelief — 'bruh' — which became a Vine sound in 2014, a whole genre of reaction ('bruh moment'), and the most-typed one-word reply of the late 2010s. The record's entry for the syllable that means 'I cannot believe you'.

A co-op horror game in which you film monsters for views, released free for one day on April Fools' and downloaded by millions. The record's entry for a game whose premise — filming horror for an audience — was also its marketing, and for the day everyone had it.