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.
First we had offshoring, the movement of production of goods out of the country of origin to other countries where the cost of production is lower and the workers are less empowered. Now we have friendshoring.
ZG: 6
A jargon word of politics and business but much in use at the moment.
Read MoreThis is a term used as a put-down for someone who fulfils a technical requirement to claim Aboriginality without any authentic engagement with Aboriginal culture. Other terms are JCL (Johnny Come Lately) and DNA Aboriginal.
ZG: 2
Even in the Indigenous community I think this expression is confined to those who are more politically engaged.
Read MoreThis is a system for securely storing one’s education and training accreditations in one digitised system that allows for the individual employee to update and verify their details and for employers to access the database to find the workers with the skills that they need.
ZG: 3
Government jargon at the moment but it could become common.
Read MoreThis is a tool that makes clear (by way of visualisation) the relationships of power in an organisation or community which have to be navigated in order to bring about social change.
ZG: 4
This is a specialised term which has gained notice because of the activities of some organisations in gaining undue influence with the government.
Read MoreFor some time now the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Philip Lowe, has in his public remarks stressed that a wage-price spiral (where wages go up and prices go up as employers pass the increases on) would keep inflation high. But now he has commented that what we need to look out for is a price-wage spiral (where prices go up and employees seek better wages to cover the increased cost in living).
ZG: 5
This is a subtlety of economics that has escaped most people who are busy trying to survive the consequences.
ZG: 4
This is possibly a Philip Lowe coinage that will not take off in the general community because it does not get at the heart of the problem.
Read MoreFirst we had the permacrisis which Collins Dictionary listed as a Word of the Year for 2022 and defined as ‘an extended period of instability and insecurity’. Now we have the polycrisis, a term popularised by the Columbia University historian Adam Tooze who argues that the individual shocks involved in a polycrisis interact so that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
Read MoreThis was the title of a plan launched by the World Economic Forum in 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic. It proposes that after of the great disruption to the world economy caused by the pandemic, we should not go back to capitalism and democracy as we knew it, but rethink what those systems mean and how we can reshape them to produce a greener, smarter, fairer society.
Read MoreIn the Canberra bubble this is the joking reference to the LMITO (lower and middle income tax offset) about which there is some speculation for the next Budget. This tax break was introduced by Morrison as Treasurer in 2018.
ZG: 5
The lamington did make it into the news in the lead-up to the Budget but it is still very much an in-joke.
Read MoreWe all know the song Kumbaya My Lord, Kumbaya, to the point where we probably wish we had never heard it. Now kumbaya has taken on a life of its own as a smear word in politics.
ZG: 6
This one is picking up in frequency. Watch out for kumbaya references in the next election.
Read MoreThe idea of shapeshifting is that in a world in which the old political divisions are dissolving into numerous smaller groups, and the media is increasingly narrowcasting, the way to get the votes you need to win power is to work out how to appeal to as many of these groups as possible.
ZG: 8
Already we can see the tactics for the next election emerging.
Read MoreTo wokescold someone is to berate them for not being sufficiently ‘woke’, that is, sensitised to expressions of racial or social discrimination.
ZG: 7
This has become a fashionable word to use with those who feel that the world has become too politically correct.
Read MoreAs the vaccination rollout draws closer, Australians are learning that they will need a proof of vaccination certificate on their smartphone or as a hard copy.
ZG: 9
In the months to come this is going to be a big issue. I expect the frequency of this term to rise as we discuss the system, the worth of the certificate, the situations in which it is required.
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 MoreThis has been a change in tactics and style on the part of China. The new sharply aggressive style has been termed Wolf Warrior diplomacy.
ZG: 8
Whatever the reasons for this it is something that Australia is going to have to deal with from now on. Channelling Trump is not going to help.
Read MoreThis is the harvesting of water from floodplains after heavy rain. It can be done by channelling water into storage sites for later use.
ZG: 5
As we become increasingly aware that there is not enough water in our rivers to sustain all the use that people want to make of it, the debate becomes more heated about who gets what share of it.
Read MoreThis is the justice that is sought for those affected by climate change, such as climate migrants. This is to be achieved by developing climate law, which currently does not deal with many of the situations arising from the changing environment.
ZG: 7
The efforts to bring the notion of climate justice to the attention of the world will undoubtedly increase the currency of the term.
Read MoreThis is the group of people who operate in a black market for the kind of sand used in making concrete. Not all sand will do, which makes the right kind of sand precious.
ZG: 5
An interesting contemporary addition to the mafia set.
Read MoreThe truth test is similar to fact checking but whereas facts are impersonal, telling the truth or not goes to the heart of someone’s character.
ZG: 8
In these days of fake news and all manner of falsifying of information, applying the truth test to what someone claims will be increasingly important.
Read MoreThe Voice to Parliament is proposed as a new representative body that sits alongside the Federal Parliament which is then obliged to listen to what Indigenous people have to say about the laws under consideration in parliament that affect them.
ZG: 10
This is an extremely important topic of political conversation that will be ongoing until some resolution is achieved.
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