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.
If you have ever been confronted by a blank stare from a young person in response to something you have said, then you may have experienced the Gen-Z stare. There are many explanations offered for this stare but the general opinion seems to be that it is the equivalent of D’uh! in non-verbal form.
ZG: 6
Intergenerational communication is often a puzzle.
Read MoreThis has been a derogatory term in science fiction since the 1950s for a robot because they were seen as crude creations that made a clanking sound as they went on their way.
ZG: 5
We are very nervous of the AI revolution and robots are its main creature.
Read MoreWe have had a long time to come up with various descriptions of writing that we think is less than the best. Hackneyed, stale, prosaic. So now we are beginning a similar assessment of the output from AI, whether it is text or images or a combination.
ZG: 8
We are sensitised at the moment to any nuance in our management of AI.
Read MoreApparently about five years ago Trump was very much opposed to cancel culture and in favour of free speech. But now he has discovered that free speech involves people saying derogatory things about HIM.
ZG: 4
I really don’t think this one will take off.
Read MoreScambling (scam + gambling) is a broad term for any fraudulent online gambling. Speculating on crypto currencies is described as a form of scambling. The particular type of scambling that has become the scourge of remote Indigenous communities is one that they have called ding ding because of the sound of pokie machines used in the game.
ZG: 5
Not exactly a mainstream term but the effects of gambling in Indigenous communities is a major concern.
Read MoreThis is the feeling of frustration experienced as a result of boredom with one’s work. It is the opposite of burnout where you have been super stressed and worked harder than any mere mortal should.
ZG: 4
People like to play around with a word and create variations. Burnout is here to stay. I’m not sure that rustout will hang around for long.
Read MoreIt sounds cute — a potato plant with a mop-top look— but the mop-top is created from stunted foliage in the plant caused by the potato mop-top virus (PMTV). The tubers below the ground have stained rings or arcs in the vegetable flesh.
ZG: 4
I’m sure in Tasmania the frequency of use is high.
Read MoreThis is an accepted type of interview, usually conducted in an effort to lead a client to a solution, particularly in legal matters. The whole conversation is empathetic and supportive, so that together the interviewer and the interviewee can reach a good solution.
ZG: 3
A technical term which has briefly surfaced in the mainstream.
Read MoreRemigration has become a cause in the current context of migration into European countries, the Identitarian Movement was born in France in the 2000s. It defends the rights of White Europeans to keep their culture and racial identities.
ZG: 4
This political buzzword in the UK has a minor resonance here.
Read MoreThe wind turbines on poles that are proliferating around the country at the moment may be joined by airborne cousins producing airborne wind energy (AWE).
ZG: 4
The fact that they may be in more remote places and less visible is of interest to some I am sure.
Read MoreModelled on downsizing, townsizing is the conscious choice of small towns as a holiday destination rather than the bigger, expensive cities. You can settle in, however briefly, to the quaint charm of the little town tucked away in some not usually travelled part of the world.
ZG: 6
Many of us are doing this without actually giving it a name, but, thoughtfully, the tourism industry has provided one.
Read MoreThe new use of chat is to be the equivalent of guys or gang, as in Hey chat, where are we going tonight? This derives from its use on social media where it serves as a form of address for the people in the chat group viewed collectively.
ZG: 7
Perhaps not an everyday expression today but keep an eye on its popularity in the future.
Read MoreThis is a term that has bumbled along through the 1900s (though unrecorded by the Oxford English Dictionary). Since 2020 its frequency has skyrocketed. This is of course all to do with sovereign citizens and their tendency to invent legal justifications for their actions.
ZG: 9
We are all now grappling with the strange beliefs of the sovereign citizens and wondering how things came to this pass.
Read MoreIt all begins with the Black drag scene in America in the 1990s where the expression spill the T meant ‘to open up about something’. T stood for truth. But some wit changed T to tea .
Read MoreI dealt with main character syndrome in 2021, a term with negative connotations. A person who sees themselves as the main character in their life story sees everyone else as playing supporting roles. So main character energy became the confidence and style with which you presented your life story. A positive thing.
ZG: 5
It is increasingly important on social media and in real life to have main character energy.
Read MoreThe Korean name for the domestic pop genre that developed in the early 1990s was gayo, but the term K-pop emerged in 1999, following the pattern of J-pop.
ZG: 5
This is part of a general surge of interest in Korean culture.
Read MoreI think that goggles are as familiar to us as glasses these days so whereas once we might have reached for glasses as our figurative viewing aid (rose-coloured glasses) now we can go with goggles (nostalgia goggles).
It is perhaps related to the nostalgia filter used in cinematography, a warm filter that creates a dreamy, nostalgic effect.
ZG: 5
Probably not common
Read MoreIn the context of drug taking this refers to the practice of a user withdrawing blood immediately after injecting and then injecting someone else with the drug-laced blood to give them what might be thought of as a secondary high.
ZG: 4
Part of the jargon of drug-taking.
Read MoreThe inquest into the death an Indigenous youth brought to light this item of legal jargon in relation to the police.
ZG: 6
A legal term which was brought to public attention briefly.
Read MoreThis is a scam usually directed at elderly Chinese women who believe that spirits can affect their lives and that various rituals can be performed to protect them and their families.
ZG: 4
This one is getting some attention at the moment but affects a small portion of the community.
Read More
