Which words and phrases will enter wider circulation in 2023? This year’s edition of The Economist magazine’s annual publication The World in 2023 discusses, among many other interesting topics, the magazine’s ‘best 23 guesses’ for the terms that will become part of public discourse this year. I list the 23 terms below, with brief definitions,…… Continue reading Words to watch in 2023
Tag: Neologism
Oxbridge words of 2022
Oxford and Cambridge Dictionaries have both announced their word of the year for 2022 Oxford Word of the Year for 2022 The Oxford Word of the Year for 2022 is Goblin mode– a slang term, often used in the expressions in goblin mode or to go goblin mode. This term refers to ‘a type of…… Continue reading Oxbridge words of 2022
You can vote for the Oxford Word of 2022
Oxford University Press is letting the public help decide on the Oxford Word of the Year for 2022. Oxford’s lexicographers are giving the public 3 candidates, defined at https://global.oup.com/news-items/homepage/vote?cc=gb&WT.ac=vote: metaverse n. A (hypothetical) virtual reality environment in which users interact with one another’s avatars and their surroundings in an immersive way, sometimes posited as…… Continue reading You can vote for the Oxford Word of 2022
Collins words of 2022
Collins Dictionary has selected permacrisis as Collins Word of the Year 2022 (for English). Collins defines it as ‘an extended period of instability and insecurity, especially one resulting from a series of catastrophic events’. This is one of 10 words Collins highlights. They all relate to continuing crises faced by the UK and the world.…… Continue reading Collins words of 2022
Pick a name to make people trust your product
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rely on people called “miners” to make the system work. Close relatives of cryptocurrencies are something called cryptotokens. The people that make cryptotokens work—and allegedly trustworthy—are called “forgers”. Not sure this was the best choice of word to make people trust this mad idea.
UnEnglish Anglicism
Anglicism of the year in German for 2019 was a phrase that is made of English words, but isn’t English at all. “for future”, created by Greta Thunberg. Laudatio zum Anglizismus des Jahres 2019: … for Future | Sprachlog As Anatol Stefanowitsch commented on Sprachlog, what makes this phrase sound so odd is the lack…… Continue reading UnEnglish Anglicism
Would this be a useful new word?
An editorial this Wednesday in The Times discussed the latest measures taken in England to counter the spread of COVID. It talks about ‘the public’s weariness with measures to contain the spread’. In this sentence, weariness is a noun derived from the adjective weary and it means tiredness. Reading this sentence, I wondered whether we…… Continue reading Would this be a useful new word?