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.
Among the most favoured possible treatments for COVID-19 is convalescent serum. This is serum taken from the blood of patients who have recovered from the coronavirus.
ZG: 5
A treatment is all very well but it is the vaccine that has everyone’s attention.
Read MoreInformation overload is looking at the amount of information coming in, too much for anyone to be able to handle. Infobesity is looking at the excessive consumption of information by an individual.
ZG: 5
This is a feature of all our lives and is particularly painful in the context of COVID-19 but it is a slightly forced coinage.
Read MoreThere are many versions of the quarantini but the there are some basic ideas which shape the nature of the cocktail which began life as the martini you have in quarantine.
ZG: 6
This is another example of black humour, designed along with the drink to keep our spirits up during The Rona. It will probably fade as the joke wears thin, and definitely fade when the crisis is over.
Read MoreThis is a rather bleakly humorous response from the younger generations to the fact that COVID-19 is apparently hitting the older generation hard and that in the main it is the people over 70 who die from the virus.
ZG 6
It had currency while people digested the news that the disease was more commonly affecting the older generation. The black humour was I think a way of coping with the whole situation. In the same way we reduced coronavirus to ‘the rona’ because being flippant made us feel more in control.
Read MoreSentinel testing is the procedure for sampling the population and administering the COVID-19 test to everyone randomly selected in this manner.
ZG: 5
Although random testing is becoming more widespread, it is still not common and not often called by this name in general parlance.
Read MoreIt is the official name of the group of 80 people given the job of monitoring social distancing on public transport.
ZG: 7
Although we are being encouraged to avoid public transport, more or us will be meeting the COVID cops as we ease restrictions on travel.
Read MoreThis is a coinage to describe the activities of DJs who are live streaming. It has been observed that they commonly choose to have in the background a plant and a lava lamp. Thus the blend plamp.
ZG: 5
This is limited to those who are enjoying the various livestream offerings but they will certainly need a special word like this as a marker of their participation in a new iso way of enjoying music.
Read MoreCoronageddon is the dire situation in which we find ourselves, caused by the virus itself (thousands are dying) or by the economic chaos caused by the response to the virus in which millions are losing their jobs.
ZG: 6
Again black humour becomes a defence mechanism against misfortune. I would expect the search for a new -geddon combination to go on.
Read MoreIt has been observed that many people who catch COVID-19 are ill but not desperately so for the first week and then take a sudden turn for the worse in the second week.
ZG: 5
This term appeared in late April but has increased in frequency since then.
Read MoreThe virtual hospital is an organisation that monitors patients who stay in their own homes, providing information to the hospital about their state of health by means of digital devices and telehealth.
ZG: 6
The term virtual hospital is a novelty at the moment but it is probably here to stay.
Read MoreAs a protection against the possible transfer of infectious diseases from animals to humans, we now have the animal disease detective who combines the skills or a vet with the training of a police detective.
ZG: 4
This is a very specialised job but one that suddenly seems very important.
Read MoreSydney may be getting a drone light show at the end of this year instead of the traditional fireworks. The reason for this is the cost of fireworks and the amount of pollution they put in the air.
ZG: 4
This may have a surge in popularity come the next New Year’s Eve celebrations. Who knows what form they will take but exploding a lot of fireworks may not seem like a good idea.
Read MoreWe have come a long way in our understanding of the gamut of human sexuality. The latest in this series is the demisexual, a person who experiences a sexual attraction only towards a person with whom they have established a strong bond.
ZG: 5
This is a term that would still need explanation every time you used it. It is unfortunately misleading because an intuitive analysis would give you ‘half sexual’, which is not what it is at all.
Read MoreWhy a woman would want to go back to the lifestyle and culture of 1950s Australia I do not know. But apparently some women do.
ZG: 5
A movement that has not gained huge traction with the community yet. Let’s hope it stays on the margins.
Read MoreThe Ro is the reproduction number or measure of how infectious a disease is in a population which has no resistance to it, which is why we are just hearing about it now.
ZG: 5
This is a specialist term but it is being used in mainstream communications from specialists so we are becoming more familiar with it.
Read MoreCOVID-19 has required us to understand the workings of a bell curve. If the number of cases of infection increases rapidly we have a bell curve that rises steeply with a large number of cases at the peak of the curve.
ZG: 10
The necessity to flatten the curve - with either meaning - is one that confronts us on a daily basis.
Read MorePlasma therapy is not new — it has been mostly a medical tool in the world of sports medicine.
ZG: 5
Treatments for COVID-19 are being sought diligently. This is one line of investigation.
Read MoreA she-cession is a recession in which women are more greatly affected than men. The COVID-19 recession is an instance of a she-cession whereas the Great Depression was a he-cession.
ZG: 6
Analysing the fallout of the economic chaos caused by COVID-19 is necessary, but this set of terms has a slightly artificial feel to it.
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 MoreIn 2015 Bill Gates gave a TED talk in which he argued that the war we had to fear in the future was the one waged on us by some microbe for which we were utterly unprepared. He proposed that we should be conducting germ war games in which we improved our approach to such an attack.
ZG: 6
We have to get out of the woods with the real thing before we start playing pretend games with germs. Perhaps we will remember and be more attentive in the future.
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