Words related to social trends tend to find success on the account, particularly those that mirror social media itself. The bot’s followers have gone wild, for example, for verminfluencers, kidfluencers, fitfluencers and small-time influencers of both the micro- and nano- varieties.

Ranked by popularity, the Times music reporter Joe Coscarelli’s use of “deadass” came second only to the presidential profanity, with 4,500 retweets and 16,000 favorites.

“‘Deadass’ is the perfect ‘NYT First’ because it’s quintessential New York slang that has transcended thanks to the geographical flattening facilitated by the internet,” Mr. Coscarelli wrote in an email. “It lets people feel like they’re part of an edgy insider’s club but is also mainstream enough to be widely relatable.”

(Mr. Coscarelli also wished to credit the pop star Billie Eilish, the subject of the article in which the word appeared. He described her as “a teenager who uses ‘deadass’ way more than I do and is responsible for this virality and basically all virality.”)

The account’s followers tend to take special pleasure when it records a “naughty” word, Mr. Bittker said, likely because of the contrast it strikes with The Times’s buttoned-up reputation. That “Old Gray Lady” image is also why he chose The Times, rather than another publication, for the project.

“There’s a lot of scatological things that will be popular, and they’re never my favorites, because I don’t want it to just be a swear bot that’s funny because it swears,” Mr. Bittker said. His own tastes run to the scientific: “I really love when it’s the name of some dinosaur or mega-bird.”

Mr. Bittker also speculated that a sense of cultural celebration drove the popularity of many of the bot’s tweets. Words relating to food and L.G.B.T.Q. issues, for instance, tend to do well. “When some cuisine or dish is passing into the mainstream American consciousness and having its moment, people really like to celebrate that,” he said.