Grammar Moses: After some zhuzhing, this column is cromulent

It's that special time of year when the acorns clog up your downspouts and Merriam-Webster announces the many words it has added to its dictionaries.

I'm here to talk about the latter.

With the explosion of generative artificial intelligence this year, you might expect to see plenty of associated words capture the zeitgeist, and you wouldn't be wrong.

M-W has added 690 words this fall that reflect changes in technology, 300-level texting, more slang than you could ever begin to comprehend, food, sports and more.

As your friendly local grammar guide, I try to keep up with the lingo of the younger set. If you've ever referred to the younger set as "the younger set," the eyeroll will tell you that you're not part of it.

I consider the younger set to be anyone who doesn't yet qualify for an AARP card.

I'm buoyed by the number of words in M-W's executive summary that I already use, "smashburger" being an obvious one if you know me.

I'll start with some of the words I already know and use:

Zhuzh

I believe I first heard about zhuzhing when Carson Kressley used it on the original "Queer Eye For the Straight Guy" show. There is nothing new about it. It's an old Yiddish word. To zhuzh something is to spiff it up in some way to make it better-looking. Perhaps it's entering the dictionary now because someone figured out how to spell it for the masses.

TTYL

Yes, "talk to you later." One of the many texting-generated abbreviations existed even before texting. TTYL seems quaint - and overblown - when one considers L8r to be a character shorter (yet equally out of date.)

Large language model

Here I go talking about myself again. No, actually, this describes a computer language model that uses patterns found in a massive amount of data to create natural-sounding text. It's what organizations and people who produce content are railing against.

Cold open

If you're a fan of "Saturday Night Live," you know what this is, too. It's the skit that comes before the opening credits of the show.

UAP

Unidentified aerial phenomenon, or what you and I still refer to as UFOs. Yes, and I still find myself referring to the Willis Tower as the Sears. So sue me.

Tiny house

If you have HGTV in your household, you know what this is, too. I like to call it a recipe for marital disaster.

And now for some of the words that I'd never heard or read before, owing in part to my profound lack of interest in video gaming:

Nerf

To make something less useful or effective. When I was a kid, the only toy in my grandma's house was a yellow, 10-inch Nerf ball. That was the most useful toy I could ever imagine. And one of the deadliest.

Rage quit

To quit in anger.

Quiet quit

I'm not sure if this is rage quit's antonym, but it's certainly in the ballpark. To quiet quit is to do the bare minimum. The result is often the same.

Finsta

"Insta" is the popular short form of Instagram. "Finsta" is a secret Insta account. If you're a parent of a teenager, you should know that every kid has secret social media accounts.

Tabata

A type of high-intensity interval training. It goes without saying why this one is new on me. I have, however, perfected low-intensity interval training.

That's it for now. I hope you've found my breakdown to be cromulent. Look it up. No, really. It has a fun history.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/executive editor of the Daily Herald. You can buy Jim's book, "Grammar Moses: A humorous guide to grammar and usage," at grammarmoses thebook.com. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com and put "Grammar Moses" in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim on Facebook.