Scholars Confounded by Actual CNN Headline Claiming Moviegoers Are Feeling ‘Glicked’
CAMBRIDGE, MA — A linguistic conundrum emerged this week as scholars scrambled to parse an actual CNN headline declaring, "Moviegoers Are All ‘Glicked’ About November Blockbusters." While experts quickly identified “glicked” as a hybrid of Gladiator 2 and Wicked—two of November’s most anticipated films—none could explain how the word came to signify an emotion, let alone an expression of excitement.
“This appears to be linguistic anarchy,” said Dr. Irene Calloway, a cognitive linguist. “Sure, we’ve seen Hollywood mashups before, like ‘Barbenheimer’ or ‘Sharknado,’ but using a portmanteau to describe feelings? It’s like saying people are ‘Opped’ for Oppenheimer, or ‘Cocopuffs’ for Cocopuffs. It doesn’t work!”
Initial hypotheses suggested “glicked” might imply something like "excited," but a closer analysis revealed no historical precedent for this usage in English—or any other language. Meanwhile, CNN defended the headline, with an unnamed staffer clarifying, “People are glicked—it’s the perfect word. You can’t capture the feeling movie goers are having while watching a Ridley Scott epic and a Broadway witch musical with just one movie title.”
Despite this explanation, academics and casual readers alike remain skeptical. “It’s like CNN wants us to feel something we’ve never felt before,” said one baffled Reddit commenter. “Or maybe films, and therefore reviews of them have just reached a point where we’re all just comfortable using them as neural Novocain, so now we just accept whatever senseless shit filmmakers and reviewers throw at us?”
As the debate rages on, experts fear this could spark a dangerous precedent. “If ‘glicked’ gains traction as an emotion, we could be weeks away from headlines like, ‘Fans Are Going Disney Over Disney’s New Slate of Films’ or ‘Viewers Totally Indied About Latest Netflix Doc,’” warned Calloway.
For now, scholars urge caution, recommending moviegoers stick to safer emotional states like “excited,” “hyped,” or even the classic “stoked” until more research on “glicked” emerges.
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