The dictionary already has IaaS (infrastructure as a service) and Saas (software as a service). This term, MaaS, stands for mobility as a service.
ZG: 4
An important concept but one that is perhaps a too technical to have much currency.
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This seems to have become popular in the jargon of business and politics where it means a point at which there is intense tension and conflict.
ZG: 5
A catchy bit of jargon but not hugely significant. Alliteration always gives a phrase staying power.
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A zombie contract or zombie agreement is effectively dead, and yet it lives on in an organisation, being automatically renewed with little thought or consideration being given to it.
ZG: 4
A colourful term but one with limited use in corporate jargon.
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Plogging is the combination of jogging with picking up litter. It began as a Swedish activity but has gone around the world.
ZG: 4
I have not seen a plogger yet on the track that I can see from my window. When I see one I will up my enthusiasm.
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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.
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Shredding 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.
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We 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.
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I 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.
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It 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.
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This 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.
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The 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.
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We 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.
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To 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.
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The 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.
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The 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.
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We 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.
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I think this is an instance of an Australian TV scriptwriter pulling in an Americanism as a bit of colloquial bling.
ZG: 1
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This 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.
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It 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
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This word seems to be instantly at home, at least in the speech of younger Australians.
ZG: 5
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