“Don’t be a covidiot – grab a quarantini while we await doughnut day in iso and try to avoid this infodemic while doomscrolling…”
Now that’s a sentence no one would have understood at the start of 2020. Sadly, most would understand it now. I wrote it using some of the words that made it into the running for the Macquarie Dictionary 2020 Word of the Year, which is a wonderful event for anyone who loves language.
Each year, the Macquarie peeps team up with a group of editors to select 75 new words for consideration, which are then narrowed down to categories and a final shortlist. This year, they added a COVID category, with many words on the shortlist coming from it. In fact, they’ve chosen two words this year, to give those on the non-COVID list a chance.
From their website:
“Because COVID-19 has so deeply affected every aspect of life in 2020, it was a foregone conclusion that a word related to the pandemic would be the Word of the Year. So we’ve done things a little differently – Macquarie has selected two Words of the Year for 2020! One from the non-pandemic side of life, and one from the hefty vocabulary introduced by our collected dealings with COVID.”
And now, here’s their selection… *drumroll*…
Word of the Year
A great choice for top spot, in my opinion. I mean, who hasn’t been guilty of a little doomscrolling this year? I’ve done my best to avoid it – becoming an infrequent user of social media helps – but then I find myself glued to my screen at 2am full of doom and gloom for the future (tip, see sky puppy, below).
My choice for second and third place
Seened
At first, seened made my inner grammar gal cringe because it sounds all kinds of wrong, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. Can’t quite work out why, except this is something we can all relate to, I guess.
And on a side note, why not just turn off those read receipts? I’m ancient enough to remember when emails included a ‘send read receipt’ button and it seemed a strange idea then. Who saw that and thought let’s make that an automatic thing for all messaging?! Sounds way too stalkery to me. Surely there’s enough pressure in our lives without having to worry if the person who txted you is staring at the ‘read’ and wondering why you haven’t replied yet? Like, I looked at it before I got three missed calls from my mother while I was in the middle of cooking dinner and an email from work that needs to be dealt with now, even thought it’s 7pm, and my kid is quizzing me about their favourite topic of the day. Just chill. #waytoospecific Surely turning that off should be part of modern etiquette or something? #rantover.
Sky puppy
I confess this choice is purely based on my love of bats. They are amazing creatures and I’ve loved them since I first saw them hanging out with Dracula when I was a young girl. Unfortunately that did nothing for their image, and they usually get cast in a bad light. Not even Batman has helped. Obviously I’m not alone in thinking they are overdue for some love because associating them with puppies is the best feel-good rebranding move I’ve seen in a long time and I’m ALL for it.
Also: great antidote for doomscrolling, as in, “The world is a terrible place, I need to look at some sky puppies”.
COVID Word of the Year
Well that’s a no-brainer, considering the year we’ve been having. I have a feeling rona is going to be in our vocabulary for sometime.
You can see the final results with their full definitions and vote in the People’s Choice (closes 8 December) here
And now for those terms I used in the opening sentence...
“Don’t be a covidiot – grab a quarantini while we await doughnut day in iso and try to avoid this infodemic while doomscrolling…”
covidiot
noun Colloquial (derogatory) a person who refuses to follow health advice aimed at halting the spread of COVID-19, as by not social distancing, taking part in large gatherings, etc., as well as buying large amounts of perceived staples, especially toilet paper.
quarantini
noun a mixed alcoholic drink made at home during a time of enforced social isolation, as during a pandemic, such as COVID-19.
doughnut day
noun Colloquial a day in which zero cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 are recorded in a region.
iso-
a word element used, often humorously, to form words relating to self-isolation, as in isolationship (a relationship formed during self-isolation), isoreading (reading undertaken during self-isolation).
infodemic
noun a situation in which there is such an abundance of information available on a particular subject, that it is difficult to ascertain which is reliable and which is not.
You have until 8 December to enter the People’s Choice vote. Get to it.
And let me know what your faves for the year are.
Hahaha seened is such a good word. This new vocab is amazing. Thanks for sharing this!
My pleasure Stuart. Thanks for commenting. There’s definitely some great new words in the list! 🙂