Merriam-Webster drew widespread attention with a recent post explaining a common English pronunciation pattern: certain words function as nouns when the first syllable is stressed and as verbs when the second syllable receives the stress.
Examples include SUSpect (noun) versus susPECT (verb), CONflict versus conFLICT, PROtest versus proTEST, and CONvert versus conVERT. The dictionary’s X account shared the observation in response to a Guinness World Records post, sparking hundreds of replies and millions of views as users discussed the language’s complexities.
Something interesting you might not have realized:
A number of words in English are NOUNS when you stress the FIRST syllable…
But VERBS when you stress the SECOND syllable.
-SUSpect/susPECT
-CONflict/conFLICT
-PROtest/proTEST
-CONvert/conVERT https://t.co/6u5tF8Vs5o— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) May 12, 2026
The post spotlighted heteronyms—words spelled the same but pronounced differently depending on meaning and part of speech.
Easy for Natives to Master, Brutal for Newcomers?
Such peculiarities in the English language can lead to discussions about its difficulty. According to the U.S. Foreign Service Institute (FSI), which trains diplomats, English is not among the hardest languages for native English speakers to learn other tongues, but the reverse holds challenges for non-native speakers.
FSI ranks languages by the number of hours needed for English speakers to reach professional proficiency. Category I languages like Spanish or French require about 575-600 hours, while Category V languages such as Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, and Korean demand around 2,200 hours.
English’s irregular spelling, vast vocabulary drawn from multiple languages, and stress-dependent meanings add layers for learners. Native speakers often master these intuitively, but all the little rules and nuances can frustrate others.
Literacy Slipping as Technology Does the Thinking
U.S. literacy data over the last decade show broader challenges in reading and comprehension. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), via the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), reports that 28% of U.S. adults ages 16–65 performed at Level 1 or below in literacy in 2023, up from 19% in 2017. This reflects a decline in average literacy scores from 271 in 2017 to 258 in 2023.
Other analyses, including from the National Literacy Institute, cite 21% of adults as illiterate or functionally illiterate in 2024 data, with 54% reading below a sixth-grade level.
Increased reliance on technology, including search engines, AI tools, and social media, has been linked to cognitive offloading, in which individuals delegate mental tasks to devices rather than engaging their own reasoning and memory.
A 2025 study published in Societies found a strong negative correlation between frequent AI tool usage and critical thinking abilities, mediated by this cognitive offloading.
Researchers at Microsoft and others reported in 2025 that higher confidence in generative AI reduces the perceived effort and practice in critical-thinking tasks among knowledge workers.
Books to Bites: How America Swapped Novels for Memes and “Slop”
Reading for pleasure has also declined. Pew Research Center data indicates the share of U.S. adults reading a print book in the past 12 months fell from 72% in 2011 to 64% in October 2025.
A University of Florida study using American Time Use Survey data found daily reading for pleasure dropped more than 40% over 20 years, from 28% in 2004 to 16% in 2023. Researchers linked shorter attention spans and competition from digital media to the trend.
Short-form content, including social media snippets and memes, provides quick information but limits deep engagement with longer texts. This shift coincides with the continued popularity of dictionary lookups for linguistic curiosities, as users encounter English’s quirks online.
The rise of memes as a primary vehicle for news consumption has mirrored a broader shift toward visual, bite-sized storytelling reminiscent of childhood picture books. According to analyses spanning the last several years, many younger adults and teens increasingly encounter current events through humorous images, short videos, and illustrated formats on platforms like TikTok and Instagram rather than traditional long-form articles.
A 2025–2026 Attest study found that 67% of Gen Z users prefer short-form comedy and memes over other content types, with 41% consuming news in this format.
This trend aligns with documented challenges in sustaining attention for longer narratives, as excessive short-form content consumption correlates with reduced focus, with average attention spans on digital tasks dropping to as low as 47 seconds in measurements within the last several years.
Ironically, Merriam-Webster’s 2025 Word of the Year was “slop,” defined as low-quality digital content often produced by AI.
