Slang words like skibidi, inspo, delulu and tradwife have been popularized by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and they’re spreading fast through social media, memes, and even professional settings.

They’re so popularised that the Cambridge University Press recently announced that those words, among the 6,000 entries, have been added to the online edition of the Cambridge Dictionary.

According to the publisher, such words reflect on growing trends and how the internet culture is shaping the English language in ways both playful and serious.

But should Gen Z slang like this be officially added to the dictionary? Or, should dictionaries maintain a boundary between casual, online language and the formal language used in professional and academic settings?

On The Hot Seat, Hongbin Jeong speaks with Dr Daniel Chan, Former Deputy Director and Senior Lecturer of French at the NUS Centre for Language Studies, and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Sascha Stollhans, Professor of Language Education and Linguistics & Pro-Dean for Student Education (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures) at University of Leeds, to find out more.