This year has seen so many seismic (0) events that Oxford Dictionaries has expanded its word of the year to encompass several "Words of an Unprecedented Year".
Its words are chosen to reflect 2020's "ethos, mood, or preoccupations".
They include bushfires, Covid-19, WFH, lockdown, circuit-breaker, support bubbles, keyworkers, furlough, Black Lives Matter and moonshot.
Use of the word pandemic has increased (1)_____________ more than 57,000% this year.
Casper Grathwohl, the president of Oxford Dictionaries, said: "I've never witnessed a year in language like the one we've just had. The Oxford team was identifying hundreds of significant new words and usages as the year unfolded, dozens of (2)_________________ would have been a (3)_______ dunk for Word of the Year at any other time.
"It's both unprecedented and a little ironic - in a year that left us speechless, 2020 has been filled with new words (4)__________ any other."
How news impacts language
All languages evolve, but the rate of evolution has sped (5)____________ today.
In this, the Too Much Information Age, when media is all pervasive, new words and usages adapt at an ever (6)________________ rate.
It's inevitable that the pandemic should have rescued old words (coronavirus), super-charged (7)__________ that were loitering in our culture (furlough), and - in the case of Covid - created a neologism.
What's more striking to me is how the news cycle generates new phrases and usages.
Black Lives Matter - BLM - was in usage before George Floyd was killed; but today it has penetrated our public domain as (8)______________ before. So too mail-in and conspiracy theory - not because the conspiracy theories about mail-in ballots are new or true, but (9)__________ because they are espoused by the most famous person in the world, in Donald J Trump.
Yet the news cycle is a fickle friend, and sometimes not even a friend. That usage of Brexit should be down by 80% even as we enter its most critical phase (10)______________ that, sadly, the limited bandwidth of news programmes and human attention can harm priorities.
Isn't now exactly the moment when we should be using Brexit more than ever?
Oxford University Press said it used "evidence-based data" to explore this year's language developments.
"We saw new words emerge, and historical words resurface with new significance, as the English language developed rapidly to (11)______________ pace with the political upheaval and societal tensions that defined the year," they added.
They divided their findings into specific areas:
The language of Covid-19
The report said the word coronavirus dates (12)____________ to the 60s and was previously "mainly used by scientific and medical specialists".
But by April this year it had become "one of the most frequently used nouns in the English language, exceeding even the usage of the word time. By May, it had been surpassed (13)___________ Covid-19.
It stated that the arrival of the pandemic saw "huge increases" from March in the use of circuit breaker, lockdown, and shelter-in-place, along (14)_____________ support bubbles or pods, face masks, PPE, medics, delivery drivers, and supermarket staff key workers, frontliners, or essential workers.
The report also stated that phrases including mask up, anti-mask, anti-masker and mask-shaming were "among the proliferation of words reflecting attitudes towards the issue of mask-wearing". Superspreader is a word dating back to the 70s, the report said, but it spiked in October when coronavirus cases spread in the White House.
The word reopening also increased in frequency as summer approached, relating to the number of shopping outlets that were closed during lockdown, while moonshot came (15)_________ use, as the name of the UK government's programme for mass Covid testing.
Technology and remote working
Two words that have seen a growth of more than 300% since March are remote and remotely. (16)__________ for Zoom meetings, it will (17)_____________ as no surprise that the words mute and unmute have had a "significant rise in usage this year".
Other words getting a lot more use include workcation (up 500%) - a holiday in which you also work - and staycation (up 380%) - a holiday at home or in your home country. Both words have seen increase in usage, almost 500% and 380% (18)_______________.
Social movements, social media and politics
This year also saw an increase in activism and demonstrations, (19)____________ social distancing being in place. Usage of Black Lives Matter and BLM surged following the death of George Floyd in the US.
The report also said use of conspiracy theory has "almost doubled between October 2019 and October 2020" and use of the term QAnon increased 960% during that time.
It added that the words impeachment and acquittal, relating to US President Donald Trump, were more prevalent at the early part of the year, (20)_____________ more recently, words such as mail-in, relating to US voting, were up 3,000% compared with 2019.
Meanwhile the word Brexit was used 80% less this year, but usage was up for the phrase cancel culture - the withdrawing of support from public figures (21)_____________ words and actions were considered socially unacceptable.
The environment
The report said that levels of media coverage for climate change have fallen this year (22)___________ to the pandemic. But it said that the result was a new word being used - anthropause, referring to "the global slowdown of travel and other human activity and the subsequent welcome consequences, such as a (23)________________ in light and noise pollution".
Adapted from the BBC
KEY
seismic
/ˈsaɪzmɪk/ having a very great effect; of very great size. E.g. a seismic shift in the political process.
encompass: /ɪnˈkʌmpəs/ encompass something to include a large number or range of things
- The job encompasses a wide range of responsibilities.
- The group encompasses all ages.
ethos: /ˈiːθɒs/ the moral ideas and attitudes that belong to a particular group, society or person.
Sp. valores
- an ethos of public service
- the carefree Californian ethos
- Teaching was central to his ethos.
bush fire: a fire in a large area of rough open ground, especially one that spreads quickly.
WFH abbreviation in writing
working/work from home (= to do your job in your own home, especially a job that is usually done in an office). E.g. I usually WFH on Fridays. WFH may stay even after the pandemic scare fades.Very few people that I know abuse WFH.
circuit-breaker: /ˈsɜːkɪt breɪkə(r)/ A circuit-breaker is a tight set of restrictions designed to reverse the tide of the epidemic and bring the number of cases down. The rules could feel a lot like the original national lockdown - but crucially a circuit-breaker is for a fixed period of time. The hope is they are less damaging - to the economy and people's mental health - than a longer lockdown, because people can plan ahead more easily.
support bubble: a small circle of people with whom
you can socialize exclusively. E.g. Adults living alone in England,
including single parents with children under 18, will be able to form a
support bubble with one other household.
- The city council helps key workers find affordable housing.
Operation Moonshot
is a UK government programme to introduce same day mass testing for
COVID-19 in England as a way of enabling large gatherings of people to
take place in that country while maintaining control over the virus.
According to the British Medical Journal, the programme aims to deliver
10 million tests per day by 2021.
1. by
2. which
unfold: to happen, or to develop. E.g. We stood and watched the drama unfold. The human catastrophe unfolding on Europe’s doorstep
3. slam
slam dunk: /ˈslæm dʌŋk/
1. (in basketball) the act of jumping up and putting the ball through the net with a lot of force. Sp. hacer un mate
2. something that is certain to be successful. Sp. pan comido. E.g. Politically, this issue is a slam dunk for the party. The movie is sure to be a slam-dunk hit.
4. unlike
5. up
- to move or happen faster; to make something move or happen faster
- The train soon speeded up.
- Can you try and speed things up a bit?
- They have speeded up production of the new car.
- The daring new technique dramatically speeded up the construction process.
6. faster
rate: speed, pace
7. some
supercharge something to make something stronger, more powerful or more effective
- They hope the tax cut will supercharge growth in the economy.
8. never
espouse something to give your support to a belief, policy, etc. Sp apoyar, patrocinar. E.g. They espoused the notion of equal opportunity for all in education.
surpass something/somebody E.g. He hopes one day to surpass the world record.
Its success has surpassed all expectations.
surpass yourself Her cooking was always good, but this time she had surpassed herself (= done better than her own high standards).
A protocol implemented by authorities instructing people to remain indoors as a protective measure during an emergency.
2. a small group of sea animals, such as dolphins or whales, swimming together. Sp. manada.
a pod of adult dolphins
The outbreak of COVID-19 led to greater use of frontliner in the US. The word has become especially used to refer to people on the frontlines of the public health crisis, involved in various roles of caring for people who have or may have been exposed to the virus. This group includes such workers as doctors, nurses, paramedics, and personal care aides.
During the pandemic, frontliner also spread as a term for workers on the frontlines of grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, transportation, utilities, and other essential roles for society to keep running. The public-facing nature puts them at increased exposure to COVID-19. Wildfire fighters and other climate emergency responders have also become increasingly called frontliners in 2020.An individual who does not believe in the effectiveness of masks to slow the spread of disease.
Operation Moonshot is a UK government programme to introduce same day mass testing for COVID-19
in England as a way of enabling large gatherings of people to take
place in that country while maintaining control over the virus.
According to the British Medical Journal, the programme aims to deliver 10 million tests per day by 2021.
QAnon believers have speculated that this fight will lead to a day of reckoning where prominent people such as former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will be arrested and executed.
Cancel culture can include everything from people with the most money and privilege in our society getting push back for saying things others found distasteful to regular everyday people losing their jobs for relatively minor infractions."
When it was first being used among young people on the internet, cancelling was a way to say, "I'm done with you".
But as cancelling became more widely used on social media it has grown into a way to call on others to reject a person or business. This can happen when the target breaks social norms - for example, making sexist comments - but it has also happened when people have expressed opinions on politics, business and even pop culture.
Measuring that impact, they say, will reveal ways in which we can "share our increasingly crowded planet".
refers to a global reduction in modern human activity, especially travel,
and was coined by a team of researchers in June 2020 in an article
discussing the possible impact of COVID-19 lockdown on wildlife
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