Don’t Slopslap!

Merriam Webster's 2025 Word Of the Year was Slop. I've written about workslop before but recently heard the perfect term that describes the feeling when you receive it: Slopslap. Could this be a strong contender for the 2026 Word Of The Year?

Slopslap (verb)
To send workslop to a colleague, collaborator, client, or other business associate.

The first time I got slopslapped was in early 2025. Advising on a client project, I was asked to review a technology comparison document a team member had produced. It had all the outward trappings of such a document. Sections! Tables! Pros and cons! And zero substance.

To give you a feel of that slop, imagine comparing different car models and reading a sentence like

"While the Toyota Sienna has a fuel-saving hybrid engine, the Honda Odyssey has a larger screen on its infotainment system."

Useless. Slap is the right word for how it feels to receive this. People have half-assed their assignments forever. But it used to look half-assed. You knew right away, and they knew they weren't fooling anyone. Now the output is so polished. The slop-slapper feels no shame, and might genuinely believe that they're fooling you.

Use AI in whatever way is genuinely helpful. Brainstorm, draft, proofread, polish. But never forget: You are accountable for the output. It needs to be fit for purpose.