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.
Sometimes in the online world there are sites which will ban any texts that use the words kill or suicide. If you want to discuss topics that relate to killing or suicide you need to avoid the actual words and substitute a euphemism. Unalive has come to fill this role.
ZG: 6
It is in the expanding chat on social media that this code becomes relevant. See algospeak.
Read MoreFirst we had the influencers, the people who become leaders on social media and who amass followers who take on board recommendations to buy particular products. De-influencing is giving recommendations on what NOT to buy.
ZG: 6
This is a term that is strong in the social media world that influencers and de-influencers inhabit.
Read MoreThis is a wedding in the metaverse. The couple sit down, each with their laptop, as their avatars enter the wedding venue and talk to the marriage celebrant. They exchange NFT rings and receive an NVT certificate. The certificate is not legally binding.
ZG: 3
This is very much a novelty embraced by a small minority.
Read MoreThis phrase comes from the netiverse and was originally directed at people who were thought to have spent too much time online (and it was showing). They were therefore advised to go outside into the real world and touch some grass to reconnect.
ZG: 6
For those of us engaged in chat online or in the Twitterverse, this is an accepted expression.
Read MoreThis is a movement in America which has developed from chat rooms inhabited by conspiracy theorists who believe that the world is run by the dark state who conduct all sorts of nefarious activities without any risk of retribution and who are responsible for all the current ills of the world.
ZG: 7
The sad thing is that groups like this are gaining in popularity. Whatever is said to debunk their theories is simply disbelieved.
Read MoreThe World Health Organisation has coined this word (info the shortened form of information + (pan)demic) to draw attention to the way in which hysterical rumours about COVID-19 are flooding the internet.
ZG: 8
A slightly artificial coinage deliberately created to draw attention to an important facet of the pandemic situation, so one which the WHO hopes everyone will learn.
Read MoreThis is a word derived from catfishing. The idea is that most women can’t resist a man with a dog.
ZG: 6
A coinage that will amuse those who visit dating sites and are generally at home in the online world of romance.
Read MoreIt is now possible, not to remove an offending post on the internet, but to remove the link to it from Google searches. This gives the individual the right to suppress the offending material.
ZG: 8
How to change our minds about what we want made public and what we decide later should not be made public has been the subject of much debate. This is a partial solution.
Read MoreTrade is the buying and selling of goods and services. Digital trade is digitally-enabled, with the item of commerce being delivered digitally or physically. It is what happened to commerce when we got the internet.
ZG: 8
How we buy and sell things, after being such a fixed procedure for centuries, is now in a state of flux.
Read MoreThe internet is home to many strange fads and fetishes. The latest in these is the mukbang, a U-tube program in which someone livestreams their consumption of a truly huge meal.
ZG: 5
I suppose it makes sense that, at a time when we are all fighting excess calories, we outsource our enjoyment of eating to someone else.
Read MoreA hacker gains access to your account which he or she can then sell to other people so that they can access your online services for free. This is known as credential stuffing.
ZG: 7
We have become increasingly aware that we are not safe out on the internet. The ways in which people can rip us off seem to multiply.
Read MoreThis is the spreading of ideas through social media, usually through images and tweets that attack a particular person, organisation, political party, etc., and that bring about a change in public opinion.
ZG: 9
Increasingly we are becoming aware of the threats to society that exist on unregulated social media. Since we also seem to be powerless to do anything about it, we can expect meme warfare to continue.
Read MoreThe latest in the slowly growing set of words formed with the ending -veillance is dataveillance, the monitoring of digital data relating to someone’s activities online.
ZG: 5
A piece of jargon, perhaps, although since we are now all so involved with activities online, we perhaps will become more familiar with it.
Read MoreThe dictionary already has IaaS (infrastructure as a service) and Saas (software as a service). This term, MaaS, stands for mobility as a service.
ZG: 4
An important concept but one that is perhaps a too technical to have much currency.
Read MoreTo fasten up is a new compound verb that has moved from a computer context to general language. We can expect more fastening up in the future.
ZG: 5
The notion of fasten meaning ‘to increase the speed of’ rather than ‘to attach or fix’ seems slightly shocking, but I am surprised by how quickly I can get used to it.
Read MoreWe want to ensure our privacy online while acknowledging that the big data obtained there can be very useful. Differential privacy is the system that keeps the privacy of the individual by introducing random noise into the data.
SG: 5
This is an important concept but it is not something that the average person will be discussing over the dinner table. It is a piece of techie jargon.
Read More
