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.
These are hotels designed to suit the needs of outpatients regularly attending hospital for treatment but otherwise not in need of hospital accommodation and supervision. During the pandemic these hotels have been used as hotels for the use of people in enforced quarantine.
ZG: 9
Quarantine hotels featured in the Melbourne second wave. The small outbreak in Adelaide alerted us all to the fact that they are called medical-hotels in South Australia.
Read MoreThese are the stocks that are taking a battering on the stock exchange now that there is the promise of a vaccine, stocks such as ZOOM and Netflix that flourished during the pandemic.
ZG: 5
A bit of stock market jargon but the rollercoaster of the markets has been something for us all to watch during the pandemic so we have observed the successes of the products that appeal during a pandemic.
Read MoreChart Throb was the title of a book by Ben Elton published in 2006. It was a spoof on a reality TV show which judged singing talent and good looks. Now chart throb refers to the election analysts who briefly become TV stars.
ZG: 4
It is American and it will probably have a fleeting currency here and then be forgotten until the next election, but we may start applying the term to our local analysts.
Read MoreWe became familiar with the term long-haulers back in July for those people who do not seem to recover from COVID-19. Their symptoms continue on, waxing and waning, but never entirely going away. There is now increasing acceptance that this is a very real thing for some people although there is still only speculation as to the causes.
ZG: 7
I suspect that the long COVID sufferers are indeed in it for the long haul and we will be discussing this syndrome for some time to come.
Read MoreThis was the day that Victorians had anxiously awaited. The end of the lockdown was in sight but a new cluster had suddenly developed and a lot of testing had been done in that area. The suspense built as the results were announced. No new cases and no deaths.
ZG: 7
We have now had a triple doughnut day — the third day of zero cases in Victoria.
This was a fleeting moment in the pandemic history but one that certainly Melburnians will remember.
Read MoreIt became clear early in the pandemic that tracing and testing was very much hampered by the need to send tests away to a lab for processing. Results might not come back for a couple of days, by which time the person tested might have been walking around as an infectious carrier of the virus for all that time. And so the search began for a rapid testing kit.
ZG: 6
This term may be with us for quite some time since the need to test widely and get results quickly is not going to go away.
Read MoreOne way of ensuring that mass testing is being carried out is to require employers to test twenty-five per cent of their workforce each week so that, over the period of a month, the entire staff is tested. This is described as surveillance testing.
ZG: 6
There seems to be an attempt to distinguish between sentinel testing which is mass testing of small pockets in the community, and surveillance testing which occurs in workplaces.
Read MoreDuring the lockdown in Victoria, the residents of Melbourne were not allowed to travel into regional Victoria. There were various checkpoints where travellers were stopped and sent back if they had no valid reason for crossing the line.
ZG: 6
Victorians would probably rate this term as having high frequency and significance. The rest of the country is not so concerned with it.
Read MoreThere are two definitions for wedding puptials. In the first scenario an attendant looks after the impeccably groomed dog which is attending the wedding of its owner, and in the second the dogs are part of an elaborate fundraiser.
ZG: 5
It has novelty value but engages a small section of the population who have fur babies.
Read MoreTechnology has come to the aid of music students and examiners who can no longer meet to conduct an exam. The students can prepare for a video exam, more correctly known by the AMEB (Australian Music Examinations Board) as a video repertoire exam.
ZG: 5
A concept which is a great significance to the small group of music students undertaking exams at the moment.
Read MoreVaccine diplomacy is a style of diplomacy which is focused on providing aid to countries to assist them in coping with the pandemic now and in obtaining the vaccine when and if it becomes available.
ZG: 7
This is a term that is likely to get more frequent use as we get closer to having a viable vaccine.
Read MoreThe vaccine-hesitant are the people who are always worried about taking vaccines, even if they go ahead and do it eventually, because they fear a bad reaction.
ZG: 5
I would expect this term to have more frequency at the point where a vaccine may eventuate and people have to make decisions.
Read MoreSome fatigues like battle fatigue are recognised psychological neuroses. Lockdown fatigue also has psychological overtones and has been analysed as resulting from the disruption of our routines or habits.
ZG: 9
Given the situation in Victoria this term has had a lot of exposure.
Read MoreA character in a movie or TV show will have what is called a race lift (sometimes racelift) when their race or ethnicity is changed in a version derived from the original.
ZG: 7
This is part of the ongoing discussion about issues to do with race, ethnicity and minority status, and so is a significant item in this context.
Read MoreThe basic version of virtual kidnapping doesn’t involve contact with the supposedly kidnapped person at all, although the ‘kidnapper’ might need to know a bit about them.
ZG: 5
The forms of extortion of money in a digital world seem to be endless.
Read MoreThis is what awaits a person who is coming out of lockdown, either a government-imposed lockdown or a self-imposed lockdown.
ZG: 9
The new COVID normal is referred to constantly at the moment, although I am not sure that we yet know what it is and if we have achieved it yet.
Read MoreTo hate-follow someone online is to spend time looking at their site or reading their blog just so that you can feel self-righteously scornful and indignant.
G: 5
This is more a word used by social media commentators rather than by the participants in hate-following. But it is a useful addition to the social media lexicon.
Read MoreThis term has been around for some months now. I thought I would hold off until the National Cabinet defined what comprised a COVID hotspot, but they found it all too hard so I will have to go it alone.
ZG: 9
The COVID hotspot remains a bone of contention between those who want to open up the economy and those who think that the only safe way to proceed is with a general lockdown.
Read MoreThe literal meaning of this is that a person cannot distinguish pitches and sings very much out of tune. A tone-deaf person is unwelcome in a choir. But it now has a metaphorical meaning.
ZG: 8
While being tone-deaf is better than being blatantly racist or sexist, it is not really accepted as an excuse.
Read MoreThis term has had a sinister connotation in the past, the context usually being a hijacked aeroplane which is being flown until it crashes. But the pandemic has changed all that.
ZG: 6
Who would have thought that one of the side effects of the rona would be this craving for air travel.
Read More
