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.
This is miniature brain created in a laboratory by taking stem cells from the body which then develop functioning neural networks. The formal name for a mini-brain is a cerebral organoid, an organoid being an artificial organ grown in vitro.
ZG: 6
This is probably the stuff of research articles at the moment but as as mini-brains progress the general public may take a keener interest.
Read MoreThis is a downing of tools to support action on climate change. The beginnings of this action to confront the climate emergency were the school strikes inspired by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
ZG: 9
The climate strike which I attended this year felt like just the beginning of bigger and better and more insistent strikes to come.
Read MoreThe term climate emergency is being used in preference to climate change, and global heating rather than global warming. Warming sounds quite pleasant, whereas heating is clearly bad. An emergency is much more alarming than a simple change which could be good, could be bad.
ZG: 9
This is definitely one that is in common currency and here for the long haul.
Read MoreThe telenovela remains focused on one storyline. The telenovela runs for one to two years and then it is done.
ZG: 5
Media jargon rather than common knowledge. However if the genre becomes popular it might become more mainstream. We wait to see Las Rosas!
Read MoreIt has become the practice of Chinese emigrants to send their very young children back to China to be looked after by their extended family while the parents are establishing themselves in their new country. These children are referred to as satellite babies.
ZG: 3
Not high frequency in Australia but we are becoming aware of the practice. More common in North America where the term originated.
Not high frequency in Australia but we are becoming aware of the practice.
Read MoreThis is the sense of guilt that some of us have now in relation to our air travel, an activity that is one of the greatest contributors to greenhouse emissions.
ZG: 7
Australians are probably slower to pick up on this particular guilt than the Europeans because our need for air travel is greater.
Read MoreA threenager is a three-year-old who behaves like a teenager, has attitude and wilfulness and a total disregard of reason.
ZG: 7
The terrible twos has been such a thing for so long with parents that it is surprising to find the this new term competing with it. Possibly labels help parents to cope.
Read MoreA spell of hot weather at sea is regarded as a heatwave if it is above what is usual for the season and goes beyond five days.
ZG: 6
We will no doubt become more aware of these as they increase in frequency and we see the effects.
Read MoreThere has been a revival of twee pop more recently. Its followers, now mostly in the U.S., are seemingly unaware of the derogatory overtones of twee in the 1980s, unaware that you always said it with a slight sneer.
ZG: 5
The most interesting feature of twee pop is the shift in meaning of twee. It remains to be seen if this is true of its mainstream use as well.
Read MoreResearchers are claiming that they have found a new organ in the body, a network of collagen with small holes in it filled with fluid.
ZG: 4
Interesting as it is, it will take a while for us to become as familiar with the interstitium as we are we other organs of the body.
Read MoreA rain bomb usually occurs in the middle of a thunderstorm associated with a cold front, so it pulls down a lot of water.
ZG: 6
Although these are increasing in frequency, although such weather phenomena are of great interest at the moment, it is not in widespread use in Australia.
Read MoreIt seems that Bill Shorten might have come up with the title bus captain when he invited Kristina Keneally to be his spokesperson on the campaign bus. The last election was all about buses.
ZG: 6
Perhaps in the next election buses will be considered passé as will the bus captions that go with them. Surely we can’t have the bus competition again!
Read MoreCongestion busting is a theme of political discussion this year. Infrastructure is planned that will reduce the volumes of traffic on the road, sort out the traffic jams and remove the blockages from the road systems.
ZG: 8
Since the problem of congestion on the roads is getting worse, this is a term that will be bandied around for some time.
Read MoreThe step from sporting jargon to polliespeak is a small one these days, so it comes as now surprise to find that Hail Mary has been liberated from the finance pages and can be used more generally for any desperate strategy.
ZG: 7
This seems to be one of those buzz words that pops up with increasing regularity.
Read MoreQuantum supremacy is achieved when a problem can be solved efficiently on a quantum computer but would take a staggeringly long time to solve on a classical computer.
ZG: 4
Only a small community of specialists and enthusiasts would know this term but for them it is a big deal.
Read MoreThe aesthetic of hopepunk is resistance to the disastrous future, both environmental and political, that seems to be looming.
ZG: 5
Hopepunk is trending in popular culture at the moment but not a term that has widespread currency.
Read MoreThe idea of an adaptability quotient (AQ) is modelled on this but is meant to indicate readiness to be flexible in a fast-changing world.
ZG: 6
A piece of business jargon but one that will probably be increasingly popular.
Read MoreThe negatives are the asylum seekers left in PNG with nowhere to go. Australia won’t have them, the Americans won’t take them, and PNG doesn’t want them.
ZG: 6
It is not a term that we use but one that we have picked up from PNG. It is low frequency as is all stifled discussion of refugees in this position.
Read MoreThis is a term that has achieved recent popularity as a description for the practice of using legislation not for the good of the country but to try to increase a party’s chances of winning the next election.
ZG: 6
A popular insult in politics at the moment but will it survive to the next election.
Read MoreThis is a piece of actuarial jargon that describes the hypothetical situation in which the predicted longevity of a person outstrips the actual time that is passing.
ZG: 5
Still not an item on everyone’s lips but one that is thrown up by the awareness that in some countries people are living to a much older age than was thought likely even a few decades ago.
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