As we know, social media platforms are extremely reluctant to ban users, partly from ideological, partly from commercial reasons.  If they find a post with content that is so bad that they have to do something, then they would prefer to shadow ban the account rather than outright ban it.

ZG: 8

With the focus on the social media platforms at the moment, jargon like this is becoming well known and understood.

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There has been a surge in the creation of pump tracks over the last couple of years so it follows that there is a growing familiarity with them. 

ZG: 4

Incredibly familiar to those who engage in the sport and not at all familiar to those who don’t.

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We used to discuss the economy, but a check of the dictionary reveals that that single economy has split into a number of identified economies, such as the gig economy, the blue economy, the attention economy.  The latest of these is the creative economy.

ZG: 5

Perhaps putting a label on this group will help the least commercial among them to make a living.

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This word was coined by the Australian author and communications consultant,Ed Coper, as the title for his book which has the subtitle How social media outrage ruined everything. His argument is that people who wish to manipulate us have found that the way to get our attention on social media is to make us angry. 

ZG: 8

Current discussions on how social media is affecting society at large make this relevant.

ZG: 7

Discussions about our increasingly divided community and the role that social media plays in this has made this word resonate with the general public.

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The Marrickville pause is the break in conversation that happens as a plane goes overhead.  Locals are accustomed to stopping in mid-sentence and resuming what they were saying once the plane has gone over.

ZG: 5

Limited to the inner west in Sydney but well accepted there.

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The number of different parenting styles listed in the dictionary has grown significantly. There is attachment parenting, concierge parenting, drone parenting, lawnmower parenting (smoothing the path ahead), passenger parenting, snowplough parenting (like lawnmower parenting) and tiger parenting.

ZG: 7

Parenting is an aspect of our lives to which we endlessly apply labels.

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Although I was unfamiliar with the term, I realised that I was quite familiar with the activity.  One early example of a prediction market was the popular pursuit of betting on who would emerge from a papal conclave as the next Pope.  That was banned in 1591.

ZG: 8

The surging popularity of this form of gambling has brought it to our attention.

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It seems that young people all go through a stage where they no longer have the family to sustain them but on the other hand they have neither the time nor the skills to cook for themselves.  This results in a poor diet. 

ZG: 4

The age group for whom this is relevant is certainly quite familiar with it.

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It’s been a while since we had a new fashionable diet.  This one is a reworking of the Mediterranean diet —  lots of veggies and nuts, a bit of fish and poultry all slathered in olive oil.

ZG: 5

I think that this diet is getting some air time at the moment.

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The Walama list is the final step in the procedures involved in a Walama List court.  This is a sentencing court for adult Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people who have pleaded guilty, agreed to a statement of facts about the case, and consented to having their matter dealt with in the Walama List.

ZG: 2

Hardly known at the moment but we hope that it has a big future.

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The formal name for this is gluteal amnesia — which I quite like. The idea of the glutes losing all memory of what they are supposed to do appeals to me.

ZG: 4

In an ageing population, simply standing upright is a matter for concern.

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We have come to accept that Australia is not the place for English flora, in particular, the English meadow of herbs and grasses and soft flowers.  Buttercups, for instance.  Our climate is too harsh and our open spaces tend to fill up with scraggy weeds and parched remnants of plants. 

ZG: 3

A word for urban planners and landscapers but interesting that we are still finding new names for new kinds of gardens.

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In the row that erupted between Prince Harry and the Chair of a UK charity that he co-founded, he was accused of bullying, and of misogyny AND misogynoir. 

ZG: 3

An invented academic word that might be venturing into the mainstream.

An academic word, a feminist’s word, possibly becoming mainstream.

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New technologies create new jargons, some of which become mainstream.  Now that more of us have solar batteries on the roof, we are learning more about the flow of power to and from the grid.

ZG: 4

Not commonly known at the moment but possibly a word for the future.

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Wasian is a blend of white and Asian.  As is often the case with such terms, Wasians themselves are divided over whether the term is a badge of pride or a negative label implying racial ambiguity. 

ZG: 6

There seems to be enthusiasm for these labels along with all the other social tags.

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Also called AI psychosis, this is not a recognised medical condition and it does not, fortunately, affect the majority of us. It is characterised by an excessive reliance on chatbots leading to paranoia and delusions.

ZG: 7

There is considerable alarm in the community about the reach of AI into all our lives.

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This appeared as an acronym standing for ‘Trump Always Chickens Out’ in a piece in the British Financial Times in May 2025 by journalist Robert Armstrong who argued that as soon as the American market experienced distress, Trump dropped the policy that was causing the pain.

ZG: 6

This will probably have a short life but at the moment it is a significant word.

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