These are new words or phrases that have caught my eye. My definition of a new word is one which is not in the Macquarie Dictionary online.
Some words seem to have more significance than others in terms of reflecting changes in the Australian culture, so I will give each word a Zeitgeist rating (ZG) within a range of 1-10.
If you disagree with the rating that I give, please argue your case in the comment field provided.
I would love you to contact me if you have made any new word discoveries of your own.
We are by now used to seeing people practising with drones in the park and think of them as the latest toy. But imagine a whole lot drones, laden with explosives, swarming on a target.
ZG: 6
The uses for drones seem to have proliferated. Some of them are good, some are very bad.
Read MoreShredding fat sounds so much more energetic and effective and speedy than just losing it.
ZG: 6
Another term in the area of diets, exercises, the achievement of the body beautiful. And another pill to take.
Read MoreWe have seen the rise of vertical family living, the increase in the number of families with small children occupying apartments in high-rise buildings close to the city centre.
ZG: 7
Anything to do with shifts in housing patterns is big news in Australia.
Read MoreI foresee that this word is going to cause a heap of trouble in the future because there are two moonshots with two different etymologies which have already become confused.
ZG: 5
This seems to be a buzzword of the moment in certain circles, but possibly not one with wide currency.
Read MoreIt seems that all governments have one, these days. This is a unit that devises interventions based on behavioural science to persuade citizens to do what is considered desirable.
ZG: 7
It seems scary to contemplate a future where we think that we are acting from our own free will but in fact are being manipulated to do so. Even if the intentions are good.
Read MoreThis is a supposed cure for skin cancer – a paste made from a perennial flowering plant which grows in northeastern America.
ZG: 3
Sadly we can add this to the collection of supposed cures for cancer. There are far too many of them.
Read MoreThe social robot robot of the future will have a pleasant smile and an urbane manner, and be sensitive to our moods and needs.
ZG: 5
Developments in robotics are happening at speed but, even if I do end up with a robot that smiles at me, I suspect that I won’t rate it highly.
Read MoreWe would like to hope that all medicine combines an accurate diagnosis with an effective treatment, so we need to explain what precisely is meant by the term precision medicine.
ZG: 8
This will transform medical practice of the future.
Read MoreTo fasten up is a new compound verb that has moved from a computer context to general language. We can expect more fastening up in the future.
ZG: 5
The notion of fasten meaning ‘to increase the speed of’ rather than ‘to attach or fix’ seems slightly shocking, but I am surprised by how quickly I can get used to it.
Read MoreThe sacrifice paddock is one way of dealing with the fact that in drought sheep will graze land down to bare earth, but increasingly the preferred option is the droughtlot.
ZG: 8
With the number and severity of droughts increasing, we can expect new strategies to emerge for deaiing with it.
Read MoreThe deep fake is insidious because computer technology now provides techniques for seamlessly inserting contrived audio or video into real audio or video, the final result being apparently completely authentic. I notice that mainstream news publishers are now people return to them as trustworthy sources.
ZG: 8
A world we cannot distinguish fact from fiction is extremely disturbing.
Read MoreWe want to ensure our privacy online while acknowledging that the big data obtained there can be very useful. Differential privacy is the system that keeps the privacy of the individual by introducing random noise into the data.
SG: 5
This is an important concept but it is not something that the average person will be discussing over the dinner table. It is a piece of techie jargon.
Read MoreI think this is an instance of an Australian TV scriptwriter pulling in an Americanism as a bit of colloquial bling.
ZG: 1
Read MoreThis sounds like something in an ad for Persil. Are your clouds brighter? If not get them Persil-washed!
ZG: 4
At the moment it is just one of a number of bright ideas, but if it becomes a real measure for saving the reef, then the frequency of the word could increase markedly.
Read MoreIt is perfectly possible that play whack-a-mole will take off but at the moment it has low frequency in Australian English. And indeed, it has popped up again (30 July 2018) with Malcolm Turnbull saying ‘the government has to treat Labor’s lies like “whack-a-mole”.’
ZG: 2
Read MoreThis word seems to be instantly at home, at least in the speech of younger Australians.
ZG: 5
Read MoreOver the last decade we have seen the arrival of many devices designed to help our fauna cross main roads safely.
Read MoreThe dark kitchen is not a kitchen that serves a restaurant in which diners come to eat. There are no customers, just delivery couriers taking meals to people who have ordered by app.
ZG: 6
An interesting new term but probably not one that the general public encounters.
Read MoreThis is a new branch of science which combines biology and genetic engineering to create completely new artificial products.
ZG: 6
A brave new world indeed! But not yet a term that we all recognise.
Read MoreScott Morrison is our first Pentacostal prime minister, espousing a brand of religion that suits the aspirations of Western capitalism.
ZG: 7
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