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.
In the 1980s the US army created exfiltration to mean the surreptitious removal of troops from an area into which they had been infiltrated. The verb to exfiltrate was a backformation from that.
ZG: 3
This is a piece of obscure jargon which has suddenly stumbled onto centre stage. It doesn’t belong there and will probably retire to the shadows again.
Read MoreThis is the immunity acquired from both having the vaccine and experiencing a bout of COVID-19. It is thought to be a stronger immunity than that produced by having only one of two immune-boosting events.
Read MoreThis new diet has been developed by Dr Valter Longo, PhD, and presented in a book published in 2018. It offers the reader ‘the New Science to Slow Ageing, Fight Disease and Manage Your Weight’. It features the 5-day fasting-mimicking diet which gives you all the health benefits of fasting without the hunger.
ZG: 5
All new diets attract a following in the media for a little while. I’m not sure there is much evidence of this one being taken up with enthusiasm.
Read MorePoliticians who are both blue (Conservative) and green (environmentalist) are now identified as teal which is a mix of blue and green. The first mention of a teal deal (an alliance between the greens and a conservative party) was in NZ in 2017.
ZG: 9
The Kiwis may have invented this use of teal in politics but it as certainly become a significant word in Australian politics as well.
Read MoreThis is the name that McDonalds gave to what they proudly boasted would be the Australian national coffee. This Aussie brew, launched in May 2022, was a blend of coffee, chai and wattleseed.
ZG: 3
Read MoreThe problem with the blue-sky flood is that everyone thinks the worst is over. It has probably been raining hard for some time. Now the clouds have gone away, the sun has come out, the skies are blue.
ZG: 5
Those involved will be getting a keen appreciation of this new term.
Read MoreDevelopmental language disorder is a disorder affecting language comprehension and expression. It is usually identified in early childhood when difficulties in learning to read or write become apparent. Often DLD is not recognised and the poor performance of the student is attributed to other factors, like bad behaviour or lack of interest in learning.
ZG: 4
This syndrome has not got the same attention as, for example, ADHD because the sufferers are not so noticeable.
Read MoreA gateway bet is the kind of bet offered to entice people to gamble or to return to gambling. That first euphoric moment of winning is what people remember and it is what drives them on to achieve another win. Of course the betting after that is stacked against them.
ZG: 6
With problem gambling very much under discussion at the moment, this word could gain frequency.
Read MoreYou may think that this is the study of the visitations of ghosts — but you’d be wrong. Hauntology is the study of significant ideas and memories that haunt us as individuals or as societies, in particular our dead futures. So why does a future die and become a ghost?
ZG: 4
Readers of Derrida will know it but the rest of us are very probably oblivious to the presence of the ghosts of our dead futures.
Read MoreThe Oxford English Dictionary defines tanky as ‘A nickname for a member of the British Communist Party supporting hardline Soviet policies, spec. that of military intervention’. But it did develop to mean the traditional left who wanted to pursue Marxist policies and engage in class warfare, and who chose to ignore the new identity politics entirely.
ZG: 4
A possible political smear word for the future.
Read MoreTo quiet quit is to decide where the boundaries are in your work/life balance and adjust your working habits accordingly to do what is required of you but no more. You gradually change your behaviour so that you cut down the load. If the work is not complete by the time the day is finished, then you do not take it home with you.
ZG: 6
More and more people are considering the problem of what to do about work overload.
Read MoreThis is a style of comedy that features lines from the comedian designed to elicit affirmative approval from the audience on some social issue, lines which have little comedic value. Tina Fey commented that you could just as well put up a sign in front of the audience and get that response.
ZG: 5
Stand-up comedy is a thriving genre so this critical term is a useful one to have.
Read MoreIn the bill that was introduced earlier this year by David Littleproud, the biodiversity credit scheme was available only to farmers. Tanya Plibersek wants to extend the scheme so that others can access it. So not just farmers but businesses and conservation groups. The new scheme will be called a nature credit scheme.
Read MoreIn recent times flying foxes have come too close to human beings and other animals. And so we have had a succession of new viruses that have been passed on by the bats, such as Hendra virus and lyssavirus. Langya virus is the latest, a virus belonging to the newly identified Henipavirus genus comprising negative-stranded RNA .
ZG: 4
After the brief flurry of anxiety we have lost all interest in this one.
Read MoreMost people have, in the past, associated this with pregnancy or a hangover. Or lack of sleep or medications. But now it is a recognised condition of long Covid so that the term has moved from being a jokey colloquialism to an item of medical jargon.
ZG: 6
It is still early days in understanding long COVID and pinning down its symptoms but brain fog is something that all sufferers seems to exhibit.
Read MoreGrey corruption is the channelling of favours towards friends and relatives, which, while not illegal, does cross the bounds of propriety and possibly short-change the taxpayers. Grey corruption is a lowering of the high standards expected of the people who represent us in parliament.
ZG: 5
This has been much discussed for a short period of time and will no doubt be forgotten again.
Read MoreThese are PFAs, per- and polyfluoroalkyls, which have a strong carbon-fluorine bond which can resist grease and water. The original forever chemicals were in Teflon but now there are thousands of non-stick, stain-repellant and water-proof products containing PFAs developed from the original.
ZG: 4
We seem not to have learnt our lesson about the danger of spreading dangerous chemicals throughout the environment.
Read MoreIt. is evident now that about one third of the people who get COVID-19 will experience COVID rebound, that is, the recurrence of the presence of the virus in their systems to the extent that they test positive for it. Some of them have symptoms again, others do not.
ZG: 6
There is increasing awareness of the possibility of getting a COVID rebound and of the rather nasty consequences.
Read MoreThis first came up for widespread discussion in the furore that surrounded the lab in Wuhan It was believed that gain-of-function research had been undertaken there, and that this may have lead to the development of the COVID-19 virus which may have then escaped the lab.
ZG: 4
It is only really because of the notional link between the Wuhan laboratory and the COVID-19 virus that this word has entered the public domain.
Read MoreThis is a term that has been around for a while. It had a surge in popularity in the 1960s and again in 2013. It has made its way into education jargon and politics in Australia.
Read More
