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.
A step change is a sudden positive change in outcomes for a business or organisation, or a sudden improvement in the way an individual behaves. In business it is a radical change in strategy or operations and it is probably in business and marketing and planning that this term is mostly used.
ZG: 6
Trendy for those who want to sound professional.
Read MoreThis is a dismissive phrase roughly equivalent to ‘not my problem’. The speaker says that the situation, whatever it is, is not their responsibility.
ZG: 6
I think this amusing expression is picking up in frequency.
Read MoreSometimes 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 MoreBazball was on show for most Australians this year in the Ashes test series. It was not what people were used to in test cricket where the rule was to play conservatively and protect your wicket. Test cricket was very different from one-day cricket and T20 where the batter aggressively attempted to score from every ball if possible.
ZG: 10 for cricket enthusiasts
And probably zero for the rest of the community. Who knows how long Bazball will be around?
Read MoreAs an editor for Macquarie Dictionary, I see myself as an unusual example of the people who do need to deal with subjects online and in social media that the rest of the world would regard as taboo or offensive.
ZG: 5
An editor’s needs are niche but this affects many discussions on social media.
Read MoreIn 1996 Paul Kelly wrote a ballad which he called How to Make Gravy. The song is about a man in prison writing to his brother and thinking about Xmas coming up.
ZG: 7
For many people Paul Kelly’s songs have been the background to our lives for some time now, so this one is probably well known.
Read MoreHave 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.
Read MoreThere have been so many cases of food poisoning from fried rice that the dish has given its name to the botulism acquired from incorrect storage of cooked rice.
ZG: 4
Most of us have other ways of describing this condition.
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 MoreThank goodness for acronyms. The long name is forensic investigative genetic genealogy, a huge mouthful. This is a comparatively new tool (developed in 2018) for solving crimes such as homicide or sexual assault, or for finding missing persons.
Read MoreWomen seeking senior positions in organisations, government and private, lead dangerous lives. First they have to break through the glass ceiling, that barrier which is invisible but very effective in preventing women from being selected for the top jobs, despite their having the necessary qualifications. Having shattered that ceiling they may find themselves confronted by the glass cliff.
ZG: 7
Both these words are markers of the observation that the workplace is structured to favour men.
Read MoreThis 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.
Read MoreThis 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.
Read MoreThis is a TikTok trend which has attracted a number of enthusiastic followers. The idea is that you go for a walk but first you unplug yourself from whatever devices are occupying your time and attention. Remove the earbuds and headphones so that you can observe your surroundings and listen to the sounds made in the environment.
ZG: 5
It is a thing of the moment. Whether it will last is another matter.
Read MoreSometimes white people think that black people are better at expressing their feelings in ways that are confident and cool. So they borrow these expressions in social media to fill the gap in their own communicative abilities. But this is considered most inappropriate.
ZG: 6
This has emerged as part of an ongoing debate about the appropriateness of this style of expression in social media.
Read MoreThe 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.
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 MoreFifteen years ago a group of scientists identified nine processes vital to the Earth system in an attempt to clarify what climate change was going to mean to us all. Three of these processes are based on what we are removing from the environment. The other nine are what we have put into the system to its detriment.
ZG: 5
WE should be paying more attention to planetary boundary but it is still probably part of the jargon of scientists rather than mainstream.
Read MoreIt is always the way with recreational drugs that are illegal that they acquire a number of slang names. After all, you don’t want to shout out ‘I’m doing cocaine tonight’. Much better to announce that you are having a couple of nose beers.
ZG: 7
A colloquialism that seems fairly popular.
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