Brainrot Versus the Bard: Who is Quoted More at Stetson, Internet Slang or William Shakespeare?

William Shakespeare himself composing a sonnet on the computer, of course.

It’s the eve of your final exam and, so far, you’ve played your part well. You studied until you and the stars set the scene for the perfect night’s sleep – pillows propped, curtains closed, textbook on your nightstand, prepared for when you wake from your slumber and realize you forgot to review page 67. What could possibly go wrong? Somehow, you still ended up doom-scrolling on Instagram reels until 3 a.m. and woke up to the sun shining like a spotlight on the tragi-comedy of your life: you have five minutes to get to your exam, and all you can say is “I’m cooked.”

If you’ve ever caught yourself using this sort of internet slang, never fear – your lack-of-sleep lingo is not just “giving finals week.” It’s actually participating in the latest phenomenon of language production: brainrot. And, no – it is not exactly a nightmarish disease that causes your brain to rot like a corpse, but it certainly is contagious. 

Wherefore art thou “brainrot”?

Brainrot used to be defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) only as “a perceived loss of intelligence or critical thinking skills, esp. (in later use) as attributed to the overconsumption of unchallenging or inane content or material.” It was not until June 2025, after the use of the word ‘brainrot’ rose by 230% and was officially recognized by Oxford University Press as its 2024 Word of the Year, that the OED tacked on a new definition: “Now also: content or material that is perceived to have this effect.”

If you’re not an OED enthusiast like me, you’re probably wondering, “So what? Why does this revision matter?” Well, the OED only revises entries when etymologists and lexicographers predict that a new definition is not only necessary but will also be lasting – for “brainrot,” they were inspired by its 230% increase in usage, which indicated the need for the new definition. In other words, they thought brainrot’s first definition was ‘unc.’

This brings to center stage the cultural phenomenon of the new language brainrot produces. Etymologists and lexicographers suppose some of this aforementioned language is here to stay, as the OED’s revision indicates. It might be easy to shrug off words like ‘sigma’ as silly internet slang but, whether we like it or not, brainrot’s contribution of words to the English language is beginning to rival that of history’s most renowned wordsmith – William Shakespeare, the bard himself.

William Shakespeare, the ‘OG’

Shakespeare pretty much did it all; he was a poet, playwright, peculiar Renaissance person and also the provider of the first recorded use of roughly 1,700 words in the English language. Scholars maintain that Shakespeare created many, if not most, of these words himself by making nouns from verbs or verbs from nouns, inserting prefixes or suffixes or combining words – some of which, just like brainrot, originated as slang terms. Shakespeare also invented and popularized plenty of phrases and idioms that, during his time, were likely regarded as either eloquent or as elementary as ‘skibidi toilet rizz’ is today, like ‘wild goose chase.’

People still speak Shakespeare all the time – you’ve probably recited “Romeo and Juliet” without even realizing it – and, although brainrot has yet to surpass Shakespeare’s 1,700 words, people speak it the same way. We college students are especially capable of this because we live in a strange world somewhere between academia and internet addiction. 

Of course, memes move faster than metaphors, but this got me thinking: who is quoted more on the Stetson University campus, and who might students prefer, brainrot or the bard?

To brainrot or not to brainrot?

That is the question my linguistics study sought to answer. I sent out a survey to Stetson students asking them to rank how often they hear or use select brainrot or Shakespeare words and phrases on campus on a scale from zero to three, zero being "Never," one being "Sometimes," two being "Often," and three being "Always." Based on other linguistics studies, I selected 15  of the most popular and searched for brainrot words and phrases: “six-seven,” “ate,” “bop,” “brainrot” of course, “chopped,” “chuzz” or “huzz,” “clanker,” “cooked,” “delulu,” “highkey” or “lowkey,” “skibidi” (sorry), “aura farming,” “big back,” “it’s giving,” and “living rent-free.” I also selected fifteen of the Shakespeare-popularized words and phrases used most nowadays: “addiction,” “apostrophe,” “assassination,” “bedroom,” “critic,” “downstairs,” “gossip,” “hurry,” “kissing,” “lonely,” “suspicious,” “break the ice” or “icebreaker” (first-year students love this one), “catch a cold,” “full circle,” and “method to my madness.” And, yes – if you’re surprised, Shakespeare really did either wordsmith or popularize every one of those.

The most popular brainrot words and phrases were, by far, “cooked and “highkey” or “lowkey”, with 76.9% of surveyed students ranking them a three, also “ate,” with 56.4% ranking it a three, and “it’s giving,” with 53.8% ranking it a three. The least popular brainrot words and phrases were “skibidi,” with 69.2% of surveyed students ranking it a zero (it’s not too late for the college-folk), “bop,” with 66.7% ranking it a zero, and “clanker,” with 51.3% ranking it a zero.

The most popular Shakespeare words and phrases were “hurry,” with 44.7% of surveyed students ranking it a three (clearly, we’re all rushing to class), “gossip,” with 36.8% ranking it a three, and “lonely,” with 36.8% ranking it a three, the latter being a little heartbreaking. The least popular Shakespeare words and phrases were ‘apostrophe,’ with 56.4% of surveyed students ranking it a zero, “bedroom,” with 41% ranking it a zero, and, strangely, “downstairs,” with 39.5% ranking it a zero. 

It must be mentioned that there was certainly less of a skew with the Shakespeare words and phrases, with more students ranking them either a one or a two than any of the brainrot words or phrases. In other words, while surveyed students at Stetson University might know the commonly used Shakespeare words and phrases more than some of the brainrot words and phrases, they are much less popular. Perhaps it is time for the bard to start posting on YikYak.

Situationship versus Star-crossed Lovers

Without a doubt, my favorite section of the study paired Shakespearean words and phrases with their brainrot counterparts and asked students to select which they would prefer to hear or use. 

Between “blocked” and “I do desire we may be better strangers” from “As You Like It”, 55.3% of surveyed students preferred ‘blocked.’ Between “I’m down bad for you” and ‘I do love nothing in the world so well as you,’ from “Much Ado About Nothing” 84.2% of students preferred “I do love nothing in the world so well as you,” which is absolutely precious. “Go off’ and “rant,” which Shakespeare popularized, ranked 50% to 50%. Students preferred “goofy ahh” to “zany,” by 59.5%, but, unexpectedly, preferred “the world is your oyster” from “The Merry Wives of Windsor” to “main character energy” by 68.4%. Between “no cap” and “in my heart of hearts” from “Hamlet,” students preferred “in my heart of hearts” by 68.4%, and between “rizz” and Shakespeare’s own word, “swagger,” students preferred “swagger” by 63.1%. Understandably, “star-crossed lovers” from “Romeo and Juliet” was favored by 76.3%, more than the much-less-poetic and arguably awkward to say “situationship.” “Ur mom” and “villian, I have done thy mother,” from “Titus Andronicus” ranked 50% to 50%. And yes – Shakespeare sure did write the original “ur mom” joke. Finally, and endearingly, 73.7% of surveyed students preferred “you wear your heart upon your sleeve” from “Othello” to ‘you overshare.’

Overall, surveyed students selected that they’d prefer to hear or use words or phrases of Shakespeare instead of those of brainrot. I’m still skeptical that students would choose to say something like “I am sick when I do look on thee” over “chopped,” but this survey shows me a sliver of hope that they might.

[End Scene.]

So, to brainrot or not to brainrot? According to my linguistics study, Stetson University students would answer “not to brainrot.” Of course, brainrot might be quoted more than the bard on today’s campus. It is revising definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary, after all. Still, “what’s past is prologue” and it is William Shakespeare and his 1,700 words, not the 2024 “Word of the Year” who always has and always will have the final bow.