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.
This phobia, sometimes spelled fatphobia, is, very simply, the fear of being fat.
ZG: 8
With the increase in the number of obese people, and the increase in the complexity of how to treat obesity, I would expect fat phobia to be on the rise.
Read MoreThe concierge parent differs from the helicopter parent in that, while the helicopter parent is hovering overhead to protect the child from any danger, the concierge parent is there to solve all of life’s problems for the child.
ZG: 5
Discussions of parenting styles can be relied on to surface in the media from time to time. This one may seem a niche term but it will probably pop up again.
Read MoreThis is an amusing term used by those who favour nude beaches for a beach where people wear swimming costumes. You can also refer to a person who wears a swimming costume as a textile.
ZG: 5
It’s fun and colloquial but the jargon of a small group.
Read MoreThis is a bit of American slang that we have taken a while to adopt. It dates back to the 1960s in the US where it seems particularly popular with speakers of Black American English.
ZG: 6
Despite the problems with its pronunciation, this is a slang term that has a cheerful appeal.
Read MoreThere is a breed of humans who have taken on the bin chicken’s name. These are people who raid garbage bins for recyclable cans and bottles.
ZG: 9
I love the way that humans gave these birds this half-derogatory, half-affectionate name, and now it is being turned back onto the humans.
Read MoreThe more formal name is side impact collision or broadside accident.
ZG:4
I have encountered people who thought that if we took the word cancer out of the dictionary, the disease would stop in its tracks. Perhaps, on those lines, if we don’t put this one in, we will have fewer such accidents.
Read MoreL-plate leader, L-plate politician. These epithets have become a very Australian way of deriding our politicians.
ZG: 6
High marks for Australian connotations but low marks as just another bit of sloganeering emerging from Canberra.
Read MoreI foresee that this word is going to cause a heap of trouble in the future because there are two moonshots with two different etymologies which have already become confused.
ZG: 5
This seems to be a buzzword of the moment in certain circles, but possibly not one with wide currency.
Read MoreI think this is an instance of an Australian TV scriptwriter pulling in an Americanism as a bit of colloquial bling.
ZG: 1
Read MoreIt is perfectly possible that play whack-a-mole will take off but at the moment it has low frequency in Australian English. And indeed, it has popped up again (30 July 2018) with Malcolm Turnbull saying ‘the government has to treat Labor’s lies like “whack-a-mole”.’
ZG: 2
Read MoreThis word seems to be instantly at home, at least in the speech of younger Australians.
ZG: 5
Read More
