Have you tried to find a place to sit down in a public space and noticed that the benches are all curved, have arm rests at regular interval, the seat dips in a peculiar way that is rather uncomfortable? 

ZG: 3

This is a jargon word of architects and bureaucrats and local councils.

This is the practice of living in someone’s house without their knowledge.  Usually it involves finding a hidey-hole — in the roof, under the floorboards, in the attic or basement, etc.  — and emerging when the residents of the house are out.

This is a shonky tradie operating in regional Australia where there is a demand for bitumen on roads near houses that would otherwise raise a lot of dust. The bitumen bandit arrives offering what seems to be a price that is too good to be true for putting down bitumen.

ZG: 4

The alliteration in bitumen bandit makes it appealing. Our only other bandit appears to be the one-armed bandit.

The experience of wearing the hijab is one that is steeped in religious and cultural significance.  Similarly the decision to dejab, to cease to wear the hijab, is accompanied by fear that your family and community may reject you as a consequence.

ZG: 6

The wearing or not wearing of the hijab is an issue for a minority of women in Australia but for them it has enormous significance.

A generation ago a policeman who found a good contact in the criminal world would guard such a resource jealously. He or she might not even disclose the identity of the contact let alone allow others to speak to them. But this has ended badly in a number of cases, most notably recently in the Victorian case involving Nicola Gobbo.

Jewface is the portrayal of a Jewish person by a non-Jewish person using theatrical makeup and prosthetics.  This has become an issue in the biopic about Leonard Bernstein, Maestro, where  Bradley Cooper, playing the part of Bernstein, has used prosthetics to give himself a bigger nose.

This is the sector of the economy of the country that comprises people, both paid and unpaid, who take care of children, the elderly, the sick and the disabled.  The reason why it has been given a label is because it is the most rapidly expanding sector of the economy in many countries.

ZG: 4

A word for the bureaucrats and economists but an important one for all concerned with it.

This is an acronym for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist, that is, a feminist who opposes the inclusion of transgender women in the ranks of the feminist movement.  In effect they do not accept transgender women as women at all.  They therefore wish to exclude transgender women from women’s spaces and they are opposed to legislation giving transgender rights.

ZG: 5

In this climate of establishing rights for minority groups TERF is gaining currency.

This one has been around for a while but I have just caught up with it, thanks to Narelda Jacobs, the presenter of 10 Network News.  We were discussing some of the words that Macquarie Dictionary is considering for inclusion in the dictionary — you can see them posted as April words on their website — when Narelda commented that she had a coffee name.  It was Nelly.

ZG: 7

Coffee names are common, I find. And, to my surprise, I find that some people with perfectly short acceptable names like to try out something different, just for fun.

There are many ways in which parents are deemed to have failed their children and sown the seeds of continuing hurt, feelings of worthlessness and lifelong anger.  The latest one springs from the way in which we create passwords online, using the names of our dogs, our cats, and … our children.

ZG: 7

Beach spreading refers to the habit of claiming territory on a beach, usually by putting up a large cabana with accessories for the day out such as tables and eskis that take up more space than the average family would have taken in the days when we just spread out some towels.

ZG: 8

There seems to be a Down-with-the cabanas! rebellion stirring among beachgoers in Sydney.

In June last year I blogged on the Chinese phenomenon of the lying flat movement, the increased trend with young people to opt out of the competitive rat race.  Well, things have gone from bad to worse. Lying flat has progressed to letting it rot.

ZG: 2

Not many of us pay attention to popular culture movements in China, more’s the pity.

Some citizens of China, particularly in the middle class, are viewing their future in China with dismay. No prospects and no freedom.   For one reason or another, some people are searching for ways of getting out of the country. This is evident in the surge of online discussions about how to achieve such an exit, a trend described as runxue.

ZG: 1

Another interesting item from China, entering into international English.