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.
These are profits earned above and beyond the expectations that a company would have in normal conditions. They are a form of windfall profits but somehow that name conjures up a vision of apples strewn across the lawn under the tree after a high wind — something unexpected but pleasant.
ZG: 4
This is a piece of economics jargon which probably does not have high frequency although the lived experience is something that troubles us all.
Read MoreA research team at Sydney University , led by Dr Sandro Ataido (pictured above), has now devised a new method of editing genes where the deletion and insertion is done as one process.
ZG: 3
This is low frequency at the moment but is set to become as well known as CRISPR.
Read MoreHave you had cold-like symptoms lately? It could be influenza, RSV, mycoplasma pneumonia (otherwise known as micro pneumonia), walking pneumonia, whooping cough or Covid. Or it could just be a cold. If it is Covid then it could be FLiRT but is more likely now to be FLuQE.
ZG: 5
We are getting very good at picking up the names of the variants and subvariants of Covid.
Read MoreThis is a chatbot that imitates a person who is dead, usually at the request of someone who loves them and doesn’t want to let them go. It follows the path of creating customised chatbots.
ZG: 3
Not everyone wants to deal with the death of a loved one in this way.
Read MoreThe exciting news is that the first state championship in Australia will be held near Brisbane this year. Why do I hesitate to say that hobby horsing is a sport? It does, after all, involve a fair degree of athleticism to jump hurdles in a horsy way and perform the fancy manoeuvres of dressage and to go on hobby horse endurance rides, but that is just half of it.
ZG: 4
As the enthusiasm for hobby horsing catches on, the frequecy of the jargon will rise.
Read MoreWe should all take one after a meal is the latest recommendation. It seems that remaining sedentary is the worst thing we can do if we suffer from bloating, irritable bowel, and all the other discomfits of a cranky gut.
ZG: 4
it is one of the latest trends in the American monetising of health and wellbeing that has reached out shores.
Read MoreIn the past obituaries were written for people who were dead (although possibly prepared beforehand while they were still alive). But we are now being given obituaries of people who are still alive. Not even a tiny bit sick.
ZG: 4
There are so many different scams online it is becoming difficult to keep up with them.
Read MoreThis is the economic activity which is set to flourish in the space from 1000 to 4000 metres above the earth, where drones, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicle), eVTOLs (electric vertical take off and landing vehicles) and eSTOLs (electric short take off and landing vehicles) will operate.
ZG: 3
There is interest but not much activity in this sector at the moment, but all that will change.
Read MoreThe digital rights group Electronic Frontiers are credited with giving this name to the regulations and controls being suggested by the government to prevent children from accessing pornography online.
Read MoreThere was a tug-of-war between a truly accurate identification and a name that the general public can remember. Now we have a group of subvariants deriving from a variant of the Omicron strain of the virus (called JN.1) which have been given the name FLiRT.
Read MoreDenver Water (Denver, Colorado) coined this word in 1981, the same year that the Macquarie Dictionary was published, but it has taken almost thirty years for it to filter through to us.
ZG: 4
Not a huge take-up yet but the next drought will probably change that.
Read MoreThere are various neurological conditions which are thought to be non-reversible, conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. But there is anecdotal evidence dating from the late 1800s of patients who experience a reversal of their symptoms so that they can suddenly remember people, speak clearly, and display lucid thinking.
ZG: 4
This has great significance for the elderly people who experience it, and their families.
Read MoreRemember Y2K? How we all waited for planes to fall out of the sky, for our computers to implode, for every computerised device in the world to implode. And then nothing happened. The next tech scare on the horizon is Q-day!
ZG: 5
There are murmurings about Q-day at the moment but it is still a fair way off. Frequency will increase as we get closer.
Read MoreThis is a neighbourhood which has a farm or community garden at the heart of it, so that people can produce their own food in close proximity to where they live.
ZG: 6
Not a high-frequency item yet since we wait for more of these to be developed.
Read MoreRemember the sovereign citizen of COVID days? Well, this sovereign citizen also claims that they do not have to pay any tax.
ZG: 4
There are occasional noisy outbursts from the sovereign citizens but the frequency of this term is not high.
Read MoreFirst you have children. Then it seems that these days the children all acquire fur babies, presumably as a practice run at parenting. Finally they have human babies and you have grandchildren and a grand-dog.
ZG: 7
This is becoming an accepted part of family relationships.
Read MoreAI is now able to create video from text instructions although, as usual, the result has to be checked. Occasionally the software gets it wrong and the requested dog in the street suddenly morphs into four dogs. The people who check the product of AI are called red teamers.
ZG: 4
The checking of the red team goes mostly unnoticed by the general public but as AI develops we may all need to become red teamers.
Read MoreThere have been examples of this in Australia for the last four or five years but it seems to be a practice that is growing in popularity. We go to funerals and the thought arises — if only the deceased person could have been here — they would have really enjoyed it.
ZG: 3
Not a huge take-up yet but it is something that may well have some appeal.
Read MoreA performative activist is someone who pretends to espouse a cause, even if they have no interest it, because it is likely to improve their standing in social media, and not appearing to be involved and supportive may produce a negative response.
ZG: 3
No doubt a smear word in the world of political activism.
Read MoreThe situationists of post-war Italy, with their Marxist view of society, felt that people were being moulded to become individual consumers at the expense of their creativity and individuality. They railed against the conforming aspects of the culture designed to facilitate consumerism.
ZG: 3
The term itself would not have much currency although the general sense that we must fight consumerism and not become slaves to our digital devices is fairly strong.
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