Topic: Demure

Lake Superior State University released its annual tongue-in-cheek list of overused words and phrases to be banished for 2026. Top offenders include "viral," "demure," "cooked," "incentivize," and "full stop." The hosts agree with the inclusion of "my bad," criticizing it as a grammatically poor substitute for a genuine apology.

Dictionary.com names "demure" the word of the year following a TikTok trend. This leads to a discussion about venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. Dvorak recalls meeting Andreessen and Jim Barksdale at the Fleur de Lys restaurant in San Francisco during the Netscape era, noting Andreessen's transition from a shy engineer to a vocal public figure.

The "Brat Summer" marketing trend adopted by the Harris campaign is discussed alongside the emerging "very demure, very mindful" TikTok trend started by Jules Lebron. The conversation suggests that political campaigns risk appearing out of touch by latching onto fleeting internet subcultures that may already be declining in popularity.

NPR and USA Today analyzed the transition from "Brat Summer"—a trend of embracing chaos and messiness inspired by Charli XCX—to "Demure Fall," which emphasizes quiet competence and gentility. The hosts interpret these trends as a sign of the younger generation's withdrawal from economic and political reality in favor of niche social media aesthetics.