The Toxic Dictionary
This is everything there is to know. If it is not here, it does not apply.
Anybody 18 or over, wherever you live, except where the law of your country or state does not allow it. One prize per person: if the same person wins both, they receive the larger one and second place passes to the next entry Atrapa la luz chooses. People who work at Atrapa la luz and their immediate family cannot enter.
A two-line entry, written by you: «What they say» — a phrase a jealous, envious, narcissistic or gaslighting person really says, 2 to 12 words — and «What they mean» — what it actually means, 1 to 15 words. It has to be yours and original.
Under your pen name, which by default is the part of your email before the @. Change it in your account whenever you like. Use your real name only if you want to; your email is never published.
Anything naming or identifying a real person — no names, no handles, nobody recognizable by their job or their family; threats; slurs; generalizations about a gender, a group or a nationality («women always…»); sexual content; anything involving minors; anything about self-harm. Those are not published. If something else is off — the phrase is not one people say, the translation does not match — we send it back with a line on how to fix it.
What is published here are examples of things people say, not a portrait of a person. An entry describing somebody identifiable is not published, even if it does not name them.
October 31 2026, 23:59:59, Mexico City time. After that nothing can be sent and nothing can be voted for; the wall stays up to read.
First, «the most-voted»: $5,000 MXN (about $270 USD) to the entry with the most votes. Second, «Atrapa la luz's pick»: $2,000 MXN (about $110 USD) to the one Atrapa la luz chooses for originality and spark. Both are paid in Mexican pesos.
One vote per account on each suggestion. The count you see is provisional; only valid votes count, not automated or duplicate ones.
In a tie, the Atrapa la luz jury decides on originality and clarity.
The ones marked «De la casa» were written by us so the dictionary would not open empty. They win nothing and do not count for first place.
On November 2 2026 we publish both winners on the wall and write to the email on their account.
In Mexican pesos, within 15 days, once we have confirmed your identity: by bank transfer (SPEI) if you are in Mexico, or by PayPal or Wise if you are not, for the same amount in pesos. Exchange fees and whatever your bank charges are yours. If we cannot reach you within 30 days, the prize goes unclaimed.
Your entry stays yours. By publishing it you allow Atrapa la luz to show it and share it, with your pen name.
Atrapa la luz may show the winning entries, with the pen name of whoever wrote them, on the site and in its channels. Your email is never published.
Whichever you like, Spanish or English. There is one dictionary: every entry is published in both — the other version is written here, the way a subtitle is, keeping the punch rather than the words — and votes from both sides count for the same entry.
Organized by Atrapa la luz. Questions: hola@atrapalaluz.com
This contest is a creative exercise in naming, with humor, things people recognize. It is a public promise of reward under the Civil Code of Mexico City. It is free and its outcome does not depend on chance, so it is not a sweepstakes or a game of chance under the Federal Law on Games and Sweepstakes. Anybody entering from outside Mexico does so under the laws of where they live, and their own country's taxes are theirs.
This contest is not sponsored, endorsed or run by Instagram or any social network, and participants release them from all liability.
Back to the dictionary Privacy
An independent initiative by Atrapa la luz. The phrases are examples written by the people who send them; they describe no real person.