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 is not a new term but one that has entered mainstream communications because of the large number of battery fires we are getting from e-scooters and e-bikes that have lithium batteries.
ZG: 4
While there is a lot of concern about exploding batteries, in discussions of the subject people tend to steer clear of explaining how a battery works.
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There has been much discussion about which sector of the community has been suffering most from inflation, and which sector has been contributing to inflation. The activities of business in putting up prices has come to be seen as a significant driver of inflation.
ZG: 5
There is keen interest in the issue of greedflation at the moment and various proposals that will work their way through parliament.
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It has been around since 2016 but just surfaced in mainstream media in Sydney because the man accused of murdering Jesse Baird and his partner was described as an ex-boyfriend and a clout chaser.
ZG: 6
A word in common use in the world that focuses on celebrities and influencers.
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Free birthing or wild birthing is giving birth without the assistance of a medically qualified person. Such a birth is also called an unassisted birth or an unregulated birth.
ZG: 4
This is an attractive name that gives a glossy shine to a doubtful practice.
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This is a strategy, adopted frequently by political parties and given its name by Katherine Murphy (pictured above) in her time as a journalist for the Guardian Australia. She used it to describe the behaviour of the Labor opposition at the time but it is being used now for the Liberal Party in opposition.
ZG: 7
Anyone interested in Australian politics will be discussing the bitch and fold at the moment, and it will be there for us to pick up and use as seems appropriate in the future.
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In the IT world a fast-follow is the release of a product with pretty well all of the promised features with an update asap to complete the just-published version rather than save it for the next version.
ZG: 4
The specialised jargon of the IT industry.
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The latest discovery in the field of microorganisms has been named the obelisk by the Stanford University team which discovered it. The obelisk (so named from its rod-like shape) is comprised of loops of RNA and an enzyme which allows it to replicate when it enters a human cell.
ZG: 3
There is too little known about these micro-organisms for us all to get engaged with them.
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Our new right is the right to disconnect, that is the legal right to not respond to work calls or messages or emails once you have finished work for the day.
ZG: 5
it is something that affects the working population so it is reasonably well known.
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People who have ADHD can find it beneficial to have a dose of natural dopamine at different times, particularly when they are struggling with focus or motivation. The dopamine menu has been popularised by a couple of bloggers in the ADHD arena and is set out to make it easier to categorise activities and make it more fun.
ZG: 4
This is a restricted to those with ADHD although we could all benefit from a sprinkling of rewards and treats to help us get through the day.
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There’s always something to spoil perfection. Just as we discover this wonderful new toy, generative AI, that will create texts for us while we go off and have a cup of tea, we find that it is capable of making mistakes, and of presenting those mistakes in its generated texts with all the plausibility of Donald Trump making election promises.
ZG: 6
This is an interesting one because we should all be aware of the danger that hallucinations present in AI-generated text, but I suspect we are not taking it as seriously as we should.
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This is the person employed because they have charisma rather than technical know-how. A capacity to establish rapport with colleagues and make everyone happy will be increasingly important.
ZG: 5
This is a term that is popular in business jargon at the moment. It will probably endure as the workplace character and culture changes.
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This is the opposite of just-in-time. They are both systems for managing inventory for production. Just-in-time (JIT) supplies materials more or less just as they are needed whereas just-in-case (JIC) secures materials ahead of time to make sure that they are available when they are needed.
ZG: 5
Very much a jargon word of particular businesses but part of the current preoccupation with supply lines and production.
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This is short for delusional and become a smear word ten years ago in K-Pop for obsessive fans who really thought that their idol would fall in love with them and marry them.
ZG: 8
A colloquialism that has taken off.
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Carl Jung expounded on the idea of the shadow self, a term he coined for the parts of the self that are hidden in our consciousness. We all present an image of ourselves to the world that is as we want ourselves to be, but buried in our unconscious mind are other aspects of ourselves that are equally potent but not to our liking.
ZG: 6
A jargon word of the wellness business. You are either wholeheartedly into shadow work or you have never heard of it.
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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.
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A UCC (Urgent Care Clinic) deals with illnesses, medical conditions and accidents that are not life-threatening and do not require an ambulance to take the patient directly to hospital, but are serious enough to require immediate attention.
ZG: 7
Government advertising is slowly spreading the word about UCCs so in time we should all be familiar with them.
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This phrase has been part of the jargon of finance and business for a while now but I think it is emerging into broader contexts.
ZG: 5
Still a jargon word for the knowledgeable with overtones of business and marketing expertise.
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People have been commenting on amusingly ambiguous headlines for many a decade so I am not sure why one particular example has given the class of such ambiguities a name.
ZG: 5
This is probably one for the wordlovers and language commentators.
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This is of course the slime which a snail secretes to smooth its path over rough terrain, but if you walk into a chemist’s shop and ask for snail mucin you will be shown a bottle of a beauty treatment from South Korea.
ZG: 5
I’m not sure that snail mucin is everyone’s cup of tea but for those devoted to beauty treatments it is a must.
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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.
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