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.
The acronym here stands for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. The ECMO does the work of the heart and lungs when the patient’s organs can no longer function and is the highest level of life support provided.
ZG: 4
This is still a piece of medical jargon but sadly more of us have heard about it as a result of COVID-19.
Read MoreThis new variant, emerging in South Africa, has caused alarm around the world. It will be some weeks before we know whether that alarm is justified but in the meantime we can address a different question. What happened to variants Mu and Nu and Xi?
ZG: 10
Omicron will be on all our lips for some weeks to come until we know more about it.
Read MoreStatistics show that a much greater number of people than you would normally expect have resigned from their jobs over this last year. This is most noticeable in the U.S. but it is not just limited to that country. The phenomenon has been named the Great Resignation or the Big Quit.
ZG: 6
We are at the moment observing this as something that is happening in other parts of the world, but it strikes a chord with us.
Read MoreIn a natural experiment it is possible to identify a life situation in which there is a particular factor at work, and compare that to another life situation in which that factor is not present. It is like setting up an experiment with randomly selected people in it. A comparison of one situation with another should determine the effect of the factor that interests you.
ZG: 5
It may be that now that the benefit of natural experiments has been demonstrated, they will be taught in schools along with the traditional scientific experiment.
Read MoreIt is clear that ick comes from icky but at this point the Oxford English Dictionary throws up its hands in helplessness and says ‘origin uncertain’. However, the example sentences show that icky is a word of the jazz scene in America in the 1930s and describes music that is over-sweet and sentimental, music that a true lover of swing jazz despises. The suggestion is that it was pretend baby talk meaning ‘little’.
ZG: 7
There is a lot of discussion about the ick among the younger generation, although their elders probably prefer to talk about a real turn-off.
Read MoreRemember the days when children had piggybanks and were encouraged to save the odd coins that kindly relatives gave them? It seems that today’s five-year olds have tossed their piggybanks aside in favour of investing money on the stock exchange.
ZG: 4
High finance is not for every child so this word has low frequency — at least for the time being.
Read MoreI suspect the distinction between hard pants and soft pants has been around for a little while but the fact that so many of us are now returning to the office has brought it to the forefront. It is clear that the comfortable trakkie daks that we lived in at home will not do. The world of soft pants has been lost and the antonym, hard pants, has been created.
ZG: 8
The things that we need to find a name for can be surprising, but there is no doubting the depth of feeling behind this one. It is possibly complicated by the fact that many of us have put on weight during lockdown.
Read MoreThe yarning circle has long been a feature of Indigenous culture but in recent times the practice has been borrowed into health and education more widely. In Indigenous culture the circle forms so that the people in it can speak freely and honestly. From the heart.
ZG: 6
It is encouraging that we are finding and adopting useful ways of teaching and learning in Indigenous practice, rather than regarding everything non-European as worthless.
Read MoreThe device is so new that, while the brand names are clear, the generic name hasn’t quite settled yet. Electric water bike, water e-bike, hydrofoil bike – there are various names.
ZG: 4
Probably if you already have a jet ski, your next purchase might be a water bike.
Read MoreA recent ABC article described this as something experienced by people with pre-existing mental health conditions. While I am sure that those who suffer from anxiety and depression will find their condition exacerbated by the current loosening of COVID restrictions, the malaise is being felt much more widely.
ZG: 10
The malaise is widespread although not everyone has put this name to it.
Read MoreWeather forecasting has improved markedly at predicting the weather days and even weeks ahead, relying on the analysis of a mass of data about the movements of fluids in the atmosphere. It is not, however, good at the very short-term forecast.
ZG: 5
We are probably interested in having this information available to us even if we are not up with the jargon of meteorology.
Read MoreJ. B. Priestley isolated nitrous oxide in 1772, but it was the chemist and inventor, Humphry Davy who, in 1799, wrote a poem about it, having explored what the gas did to him by taking large quantities of it.
Read MoreThere are arguments for and against the idea that anyone should be required to get vaccinated. However, it became clear that there were certain groups who were passing on the virus more than others.
ZG: 9
There is much heat generated in this debate at the moment and it will get worse as the states open up.
Read MoreThis is a new treatment for COVID-19, also referred to as the COVID antiviral pill or, even less frequently, as the COVID-19 antiviral pill. Its official name is molnupiravir. It is an anti-virus agent, originally developed to treat influenza.
ZG: 9
It is hoped that this will make quite a difference in how we cope with COVID so it will be a household term.
Read MoreThis is an exclamation with the sense of ‘Gotcha!’ or “Just kidding!” which we have belatedly picked up from American English where it first appeared in the 1980s.
ZG: 8
Fashion in language is important. Refreshing and revitalising your exclamations with this can give it an added zing. Perhaps.
Read MoreThis is the situation at a hospital which is overwhelmed by the number of patients arriving by ambulance. They cannot process them fast enough in emergency so the ambulances are forced to park and wait, sometimes for hours, until a bed becomes free.
ZG: 8
This has become important as an indicator of the unsustainable pressure on hospitals as COVID cases rise.
Read MoreThe internal wave is more akin to the pattern created by a ball rolling off a step and then bouncing back up, falling and bouncing up repeatedly.
ZG: 4
A scientific term that had some general currency in the news reporting of the Indonesian submarine that sank.
Read MoreAustralia has joined those countries labelled ‘climate laggards’ in the last couple of years. It seems that climate laggard has followed in the wake of technology laggard, a popular phrase of five years ago for those businesses and organisations that refused to keep up with the changes brought about by the IT revolution.
ZG: 7
Obviously we don’t like to hear ourselves described as climate laggards, but, as things stand, we should probably get used to it.
Read MoreFin as the shortened form of financial is getting to work and making new compounds. First we had fintech. Now we have finfluencer which is a blend of the fin- prefix and influencer.
ZG: 7
Will we be referring our financial queries to influencers rather than to our accountants in the future?
Read MoreThis is a new variant of the COVID-19 virus as described in the media with the emphasis on how much more infectious or deadly it might be.
ZG: 6
This is an attempt to push back against the unnecessary panic created by media reports of new variants. Whether it will bring the heart rate of the general public back to somewhere near normal remains to be seen.
Read More
