← Back to homeFuture Insults
Future Insults
(adj.)
The cranky, short-fused mood that builds as endless skimming of feeds, inboxes and notifications wears you thin.
He blamed his scantankerous mood on subway crowds, weak coffee, and his coworkers: anything but the hour he'd just spent doomscrolling.
Does it ring true?
From the future, or already here?
Scan + cantankerous, that fine old word for bad-tempered and spoiling for a quarrel. Cantankerousness was once the earned privilege of the grumpy old man; now social feeds make it a universal condition for anyone who consumes too much ragebait.
Future Words: A Non-Obvious Glossary of Terms That Don’t Exist (But Soon Will) collects all 100, each with its example sentence and coinage notes, from the bestselling authors of The Future Normal. Hardcover, October 20, 2026.