Patents on the soles of your shoes...: WOTY

Showing posts with label WOTY. Show all posts

Friday, December 26, 2025

Terminology – WOTTIES 2025 – Cambridge Dictionary “parasocial” Word of the Year

Cambridge Dictionary selected the term parasocial as Word of the Year (WOTY) 2025. In a nutshell, parasocial refers to a one-way relationship with a celebrity, an influencer, or even with a non-human entity such as a ChatBot. A person or entity that one has never met, but with whom a strong sense of connection nonetheless exists.

Cambridge Dictionary defines the term 'parasocial' as:

"involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves or a famous person they do not know, a character in a film, book, TV series etc., or an Artificial Intelligence."

Simone Schnalle, Professor of Experimental Social Psychology at Cambridge University, explains why the term parasocial is the perfect WOTY for 2025, and most importantly, why people form parasocial relationships.

Reference
'Parasocial' is Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year.
https://www.cambridge.org/news-and-insights/parasocial-is-cambridge-dictionary-word-of-the-year-2025

Monday, December 15, 2025

Terminology – WOTTIES 2025 – Macquarie Dictionary “AI slop” Word of the Year

The Macquarie Dictionary is Australia's National Dictionary of Australian English. On November 24th, 2025, the Macquarie Dictionary Committee* announced that it had selected “AI slop” as the 2025 Word of the Year. A selection backed 100% by the People’s Choice, crowdsourced at the Dictionary’s website.

The Macquarie Dictionary defined “AI slop” as “low-quality content created by generative AI, often containing errors, and not requested by the user”. The definition was illustrated as shown below.

The Macquarie Dictionary Committee also selected two Honorable Mentions: the terms “clanker” and “medical misogyny”. By contrast, the People’s Choice only converged with the Committee’s choice on the term “medical misogeny”, electing for the Second Honorable Mention, the term “attention economy.”

The Macquarie Dictionary defined the honorable mentions as follows. Each definition was also illustrated as shown below.

clanker - A usually derogatory term for an artificial intelligence-driven robot which completes tasks that are normally performed by a human.

medical misogeny - Entrenched prejudice against females in the context of medical treatment and knowledge, especially in the area of reproductive health.

attention economy - An economy in which human attention is treated as a major commodity, especially in advertising.

______

Note
The Macquarie Dictionary Committee comprised:
- The Editorial Team at Macquarie Dictionary
- David Astle – crossword maker, radio host, and writer.
- Tiger Webb – language research specialist, ABC.

References

Macquarie Dictionary

https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/?time=1765148169657
The Macquarie Dictionary Committee (Nov. 24, 2025). Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year for 2025.
https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/macquarie-dictionary-word-of-the-year-for-2025/

Sunday, December 7, 2025

Terminology - WOTTIES 2025 - Collins Dictionary shortlisted Words of the Year

Terms shortlisted for the Collins Word of the Year (WOTY) are no less interesting mirrors of a year’s worth of trends and events. Collins posted the following nine 2025 Words of the Year, competing with “vibe coding”, the one term that was selected as the 2025 Word of the Year. A list of nine terms, each including a copyrighted Harper Collins definition, as well as a supporting still image, and/or GIF animation.

aura farming: The deliberate cultivation of a distinctive and charismatic persona.

biohacking: The activity of altering the natural processes of one's body in an attempt to improve one's health and longevity.

broligarchy: A small clique of very wealthy men who exert political influence.

clanker: A derogatory term for a computer, robot, or source of artificial intelligence.

GIF animation file unavailable for "clanker".

Visit https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty

coolcation: A holiday in a place of cool climate.

glaze: To praise or flatter (someone) excessively or undeservedly.

HENRY (acronym for High Earner, Not Rich Yet): A person who has not accrued substantial wealth from their high income due to their lifestyle or external financial demands.

micro-retirement: A break taken between periods of employment in order to pursue personal interests.

GIF animation file unavailable for "micro-retirement".

Visit https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty

task-masking: The act of giving a false impression that one is being productive in the workplace.

References
Quinn, R. (Nov. 6, 2025). Collins’ Word of the Year 2025: AI meets authenticity as society shifts. Collins Love of Language Blog.
https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-lovers/collins-word-of-the-year-2025-ai-meets-authenticity-as-society-shifts/#google_vignette
Collins Word of the Year (WOTY)
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Terminology – WOTTIES 2025 – Collins Dictionary “vibe coding” Word of the Year

Each year, the major English language dictionaries publish The Words of the Year (WOTY, plural WOTTIES). A list of terms, and the winner of them all, are selected by a committee of terminologists, often backed by the number of times the term(s) were searched online, and/or crowdsourced votes.

Collins Dictionary selected “vibe coding” as the 2025 Word of the Year winner. A term first used on the social media platform X, on February 2, 2025, by Andrej Karpathy, former Director of AI at Tesla and founding engineer at OpenAI. In the X post, Karpathy described how easy it was to use AI-assisted programming tools, such as Cursor Composer and Claude Sonnet, designed to code and debug upon natural language prompting. He described how the tools were currently so good at executing his prompts that he could “give in to the vibes” (go with the flow) of coding, while “just forgetting that the code even exists”. In other words, he could use AI tools to do the computer programming, without writing and reading the unfolding code, or even attempting to debug it. A new jouissance, indeed!

By implication, according to Cress (2025) at the BBC, even if Karpathy's post on vibe coding addressed insiders, his X post also suggested that anyone could at least program a simple app, without any prior coding knowledge. All the user would have to do is request the program's features and functions. The example Karpathy provided for a weekend website construction project was that he could just ask the AI tool to "decrease the padding on the sidebar by half ", without even having to find the code that would execute such a change to the website's functional appearance.

In turn, Collins defined the term “vibe coding” as "the use of artificial intelligence prompted by natural language to assist with the writing of computer code.” To illustrate the Dictionary's winning 2025 Word of the Year, Collins also posted the below animated GIF.

References

Collins Dictionary (online)

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty

Cress, L. (Nov. 5, 2025) 'Vibe coding' named word of the year by Collins Dictionary.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpd2y053nleo

Quinn, R. (Nov. 6, 2025). Collins’ Word of the Year 2025: AI meets authenticity as society shifts. Collins Love of Language Blog.
https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-lovers/collins-word-of-the-year-2025-ai-meets-authenticity-as-society-shifts/#google_vignette

Karpathy, A. (2025) Post on “X”.
https://x.com/karpathy/status/1886192184808149383?lang=en

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Terminology: WOTTIES 2023 (1) - 'AI' Collins Dictionary Word of the Year.

The 2023 Collins Dictionary Word of the Year (WOTY) is AI, as in Artificial Intelligence. Collins defines AI as “abbreviation for artificial intelligence: the modeling of human mental functions by computer programs”.

The choice of the term AI might appear surprising, considering that AI has been around for almost 70 years as an academic discipline. What has changed in 2023, is that AI-driven Chatbots, such as ChatGPT and Claude would probably break the Turing Test for natural language processing and the production of human-like texts, and by the same token deal a serious blow to the domain of epistemology. Indeed, in a topsy-turvy outcome, computer scientists are now designing new tests to defeat machines vs. trying to program them so that they behave like humans—or at least fool humans into believing they are also human.

The Turing Test was designed by Alan Turing in 1950. The test consisted in challenging computer scientists to design a machine that would exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. When carried out, the Turing Test would invoke interaction between a human testing two interlocutors, one of which would be a machine. If the human, who was testing the two interlocutors, could not tell the difference between the machine interlocutor and the human interlocutor, then the machine would have passed the test, as it would be exhibiting behavior indistinguishable from that of a human.

In 2023, considering how Natural Language Processing (NLP), Large Language Models (LLMs) and deep Machine Learning (ML) can combine to respond to human queries for specific information, using Chatbots for example, computer scientists are now looking for ways to devise new challenging, and even simple tests that underscore what the machine still cannot do like humans. Thus, for example, computer scientists are designing simple visual logic puzzles, which stump AI-driven programs, when compared to human performance on the same tests (Biever, 2023).

However, at the end of the day, user beware! Before falling-head-over-heels for AI-driven ChatGPT, assumed to already exhibit conversational performance largely equivalent to or indistinguishable from that of humans, remember that passing the Turing Test means being fooled by a machine. The above Collins animated GIF offers a few cases in point.

References

Biever, C. (July 25, 2023). ChatGPT broke the Turing test — the race is on for new ways to assess AI. Nature.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02361-7

Chi, C. (Nov. 29, 2023). AI chatbots: Our top 18 picks for 2023.

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-ai-chatbot

Guy, J. (Nov. 1, 2023). Collins Dictionary picks ‘AI’ as its word of the year.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/01/world/11-01-2023-collins-dictionary-ai-word-of-the-year-scli-intl-scn/index.html

Shariatmadari, D. (Nov. 1, 2023). The acceleration of AI and other 2023 trends. Collins Language Lovers Blog.

https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-lovers/the-acceleration-of-ai-and-other-2023-trends/

(Staff) The Collins Dictionary word of the year is ….

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty

Thursday, November 25, 2021

More Aussie terminology! People's choice for the Macquarie Dictionary WOTY 2021

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Now, is your chance to select the People's Choice Word of the Year 2021 for the Macquarie Dictionary. The Macquarie Dictionary is the official dictionary of Australian English.

As usual, in the Word of the Year contests of major dictionaries, the press and esteemed linguistic societies, the list of competing terms is just as interesting as the winner of them all. Below, the list of candidates, from which you might select your top three, for the People’s Choice Macquarie WOTY 2021. This year the Macquarie will post the People’s Choice WOTY, together with the Dictionary’s Committee results, on November 30th.

List (extracted)

brain tickler: noun colloquial, a nasopharyngeal swab, used for COVID 19 testing.
brick-bait: noun, a strategy designed to encourage customers to shop at bricks-and-mortar rather than online, as by providing personalized service, pleasant surrounding etc.
delta: noun, variant (B.1.672.2) of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID 19.
dignity suit: noun, adaptive clothing in the form of a jumpsuit, elasticized at the waist with a sip in the back, designed to prevent the wearer from undressing, especially designed for people living with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease etc.
dry scooping: verb, the practice of ingesting dry pre-workout supplements or protein powder, without mixing with water or milk as directed.
dump cake: noun, a cake which is prepared by combining the ingredients directly in the tin or dish in which it is baked.
front-stab: verb(t) colloquial, to betray (someone) openly, without subterfuge.
hate-follow: verb (t) Internet, to link oneself (to a site on a social network), even though one dislikes, or disagrees with the content being shared.
humane washing: verb, the misleading marketing of a product sourced from animals, deceptively giving the impression that the animals have been treated humanely.
last chance tourism: noun, tourism to locations with endangered landscapes or geographical features, or which are habitats for endangered species
menty-b: noun colloquial, a breakdown of one’s mental health.
NFT: noun, non fungible token, a unique digital certificate, which uses blockchain technology to certify ownership, authenticity or scarcity of digital asset, such as a digital image, video, tweet, domain name etc.
porch pirate: noun colloquial, a person who steals parcels which have been left outside a home by a deliverer.
range anxiety: noun, the stress experience by the driver of an electric vehicle when they are unsure of reaching their destination, or a recharging point before the vehicle’s battery runs out of power.
shadow pandemic: noun, an increase in mental health problems and domestic and family violence attributed to living with the stresses and restrictions of the COVID 19 pandemic.
sober curious: adjective, having an interest in reducing one’s consumption of alcohol or in giving it up altogether.
strollout: noun colloquial (humorous), the rollout of COVID 19 vaccination program in Australia, with reference to the perceived lack of speed.
third place: noun, the social environment where people spend time outside of work or home, also third space.
wokescold: verb (t),1. To rebuke (a person) for having beliefs perceived as accepting of prejudice or discrimination; noun, 2. A person, who issues such rebukes.

Vote here!

References

Macquarie Dictionary https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/

Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year 2021 https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/resources/view/word/of/the/year/2021

Monday, November 30, 2020

Terminology -WOTTIES (2) - Collins Dictionary 2020 shortlisted Words Of The Year

The Collins Dictionary shortlisted Words Of The Year (i.e., the runner-up WOTTIES) are no less interesting than the Word Of The Year, winner of them all. This year’s shortlist is predictably reflective of the COVID-19 pandemic, with selected terms such as coronavirus, keyworker, furlough, and self-isolate.

However, the Collins shortlisted 2020 WOTTIES also capture other key events that punctuated the year 2020. Events, such as those sparked by one too many horrifying police injustices, resulting in spontaneous social upheaval in support of Black Lives Matter (BLM). The shortlist also includes the unprecedented popularity of TikTocking doctors, reaching out to hundreds of thousands of teenagers with one-minute sex-education tips, also seen, dancing off the stress of 24-hour shifts at overcrowded, understaffed, and under-equipped, Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Even the neologism MeGxit, mapped on Brexit, referring to an unusual defection from the inner circles of the British Crown, was shortlisted.

Below, the Collins definitions for the 2020 WOTTIES shortlisted, together with the fabulously animated GIFs for BLM (Black Lives Matter), and for coronavirus (above), both directly imported from the Collins website.

BLM abbreviation for Black Lives Matter: a movement that campaigns against racially motivated violence and oppression.
coronavirus: (noun) any group of viruses that cause infectious illnesses of the respiratory tract, including COVID-19.
keyworker: (noun) an employee in a profession considered essential to the functioning society.
furlough: (noun) a temporary laying-off of employees, usually because there is insufficient work to occupy them.
social distancing: (noun) maintaining a certain distance between onself and other people in order to prevent infection with a disease.
Tiktoker: (noun) a person who regularly shares or appears in videos on TikTok®.
self-isolate: (verb) to quarantine oneself if one has or suspects one has a contagious disease.
mukbang: (noun) a video or webcast in which the host eats a large quantity of food for the entertainment of viewers.
MEGxit: (noun) the withdrawal of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from royal duties.

Reference

Collins 2020 Word of the Year: Shortlisted words - https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty

Friday, November 27, 2020

Terminology - WOTTIES (1) - Collins Dictionary 2020 Word Of The Year

Each year, Collins Dictionary of the English Language selects the Word Of The Year, referred to as the WOTY, an acronym that rhymes with “potty”. The Word Of The Year is selected, based on the significance of the recorded number of searches for a particular term, during the year. Unsurprisingly, this year’s WOTY is pandemic-related.

Indeed, Collins’ 2020 WOTY is Lockdown, a word that logged more than one quarter-million queries, compared to just 4000, in 2019. A word, according to Shariatmadari, whose usage has also squarely migrated, from the domain of incarceration to public health (Shariatmadari, Nov. 10, 2020).

Collins' 2020 definition of the term lockdown is the following:

Lockdown: the containment measure implemented by governments around the world to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

A second, 2020 definition of the term lockdown appears on the animated GIF for the winning WOTY, imported below, directly from the Collins website.

References

The Collins Word Of The Year 2020 is ….. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty

Shariatmadari, D. (Nov. 10, 2020) The year of the lockdown Collins Dictionary Language Lover’s Blog. https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-lovers/the-year-of-lockdown/

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Terminology – WOTTIES (2) Collins Dictionary WOTY 2019 shortlist

No less interesting than the WOTY* is the shortlist of WOTY candidates. In other words, the 2019 Collins list of potential WOTTIES from which the WOTY is finally selected, “winner of them all”.

The following terms were shortlisted for the Collins Dictionary WOTY 2019 [Collins Word Lover’s blog(1)]:

bopo (ˈbəʊpəʊ) noun also spelt BoPo: a movement advocating the view that people should be proud of the appearance of their bodies, or any aspect of this, especially size

cancel (ˈkænsəl) verb: to publicly cease to acknowledge a person, organization, etc, esp on social media, in order to express disapproval of their activities or opinions

deepfake (ˈdiːpˌfeɪk) noun, verb: (noun) a technique by which a digital image or video can be superimposed onto another, which maintains the appearance of an unedited image or video; (verb) to superimpose one digital image or video onto another so that it maintains the appearance of an unedited image or video

double down (ˈdʌbəl daʊn) phrasal verb: to reinforce one’s commitment to a venture or idea in spite of opposition or risk

entryist (ˈɛntrɪɪst) noun, adjective: (noun) a person who joins an existing political party with the intention of changing its principles and policies; (adjective) relating to the practice of joining an existing political party with the intention of changing its principles and policies

hopepunk (ˈhəʊpˌpʌŋk) noun: a literary and artistic movement that celebrates the pursuit of positive aims in the face of adversity

influencer (ˈɪnflʊənsə) noun: a person who uses social media to promote lifestyle choices, commercial products, etc to his or her followers

nonbinary (ˌnɒnˈbaɪnərɪ) adjective. Also spelt non-binary: relating to a gender or sexual identity that does not conform to the binary categories of male or female, heterosexual or homosexual

rewilding (riːˈwaɪldɪŋ) noun: the practice of returning areas of land to a wild state, including the reintroduction of animal species that are no longer naturally found there

Got a favorite?

* WOTY is an acronym that stands for Word of the Year. It rhymes with “potty”.

©Collins Dictionaries

References

Collins Word of the Year – The Collins word of the Year is ….

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty

Collins Word Lover’s blog

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/word-lovers-blog/

Collins Word Lover’s blog (1) - Nov. 7, 2019 – Collins Dictionaires - Collins Word of the Year 2019 shortlist

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/word-lovers-blog/new/collins-word-of-the-year-2019-shortlist,580,HCB.html

Collins Word Lover’s blog (2) - Nov. 7, 2019 - Ian Brookes - From ‘Brexiety’ to ‘prorogation’: How Brexit has changed the way we use language in 2019

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/word-lovers-blog/new/from-brexiety-to-prorogation-how-brexit-has-changed-the-way-we-use-language-in-2019,577,HCB.html

Collins Word Lover’s blog (3) - Nov. 7, 2019 – Collins Dictionaires - The rich tapestry of language provides a varied Word of the Year 2019 list

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/word-lovers-blog/new/the-rich-tapestry-of-language-provides-a-varied-word-of-the-year-2019-list,578,HCB.html

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Terminology – WOTTIES 2019 (1) Collins Dictionary Word of the Year

T’is the WOTY* season anew! The Collins Dictionary lexicographers have just named Climate strike as WOTY 2019.

Climate strike, the winning Collins WOTY 2019, is defined variously as “a protest demanding action on climate change”, or "a form of protest in which people absent themselves from education or work in order to join demonstrations demanding action to counter climate change." (Collins Word of the Year)

Although the term appeared in 2015, in connection with the Paris UN Climate Change COP21 (Conference of the Parties), Collins lexicographers registered a 100-fold increase of the term, in 2019. A surge in usage attributed to youth activism, led by the young 16-year old Swedish activist, Greta Thunberg.

Indeed, since 2018, following Thunberg's intervention (Thunberg, 2018), at the UN Climate Change COP24 meeting, in Katowice, Poland, hundreds of youth-led climate strikes have taken place, in more than 270 cities. Just this past Sept. 20th, 2019, on the occasion of the New York UN Climate Summit, youth strikes for climate change were attended by an estimated 4 million people, around the globe, from Mumbai to Manhattan (Kaplan, et al., 2019).

Collins dictionary lexicographers select the WOTY based on close observation of the Collins Corpus, a 4.5 billion word database, with a “huge range of sources of spoken and written English, including newspapers, radio and other types of media, from all over the world” (Collins Word Lover’s Blog). A database where public submissions of new words are both welcome, and vetted, for inclusion. The sorts of considerations that are part of the Collins Corpus monitoring process include: frequency, breadth of usage, breadth of sources, and lifespan of the term. Terms are rarely removed. They are indexed as obsolete or archaic if they have dropped out of use, and old fashioned if their usage is dropping.

* WOTY is an acronym for “Word of the Year”. It rhymes with “potty”.

© Collins Dictionaries

Reference

Collins Word of the Year (portal) – The Collins Word of the Year is ….

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty

Collins Word Lover’s blog

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/word-lovers-blog/

Collins Word Lover’s blog–Nov. 2, 2016 – Collins Dictionaries - Collins Word of the Year 2016 Q & A

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/word-lovers-blog/new/collins-word-of-the-year-2016-q-a,326,HCB.html

Collins Word Lover’s blog–Nov.7 2019 - David Shariatmadar - These are strange, anxiety-inducing times – but there are reasons to be cheerful.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/word-lovers-blog/new/collins-2019-word-of-the-year-shortlist,576,HCB.html

Kaplan, S., Lumpkin, L., and B. Dennis (Sept. 20, 2019) We will make them hear us: Millions of youth around the word strike for action
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/09/20/millions-youth-around-world-are-striking-friday-climate-action/

Thunberg, G. (2018) Full Speeh at UN Climate Change COP24 Meeting, in Katowice, Poland.

https://youtu.be/VFkQSGyeCWg

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Terminology – WOTTIES 2018 (2) Collins Dictionary

The Collins Dictionary Word of the Year 2018 is the term single-use.

According to the Collins dictionary, single-use is “a term that describes items whose unchecked proliferation are blamed for damaging the environment and affecting the food chain”. The term ‘single-use refers to “ products – often plastic – that are ‘made to be used once only’ before disposal." The 2018 Collins WOTY covers the meaning of single-use evoking ocean plastic pollution and its deadly effects on marine wildlife, as well as the accumulation of single-use plastic in landfills as non-biodegradable waste. Thus, single-use products have been especially targeted in global campaigns to reduce their use.

According to Collins, the frequency of the term single-use has increased threefold since 2013, in an effort to raise public awareness about the negative planetary effects of single-use products.

Incidentally, about a dozen categories of single-use products, such as straws, paper plates, cotton swabs, stirrers and swizzle sticks, were banned by the European Parliament on Oct. 24, 2018 (Le Monde). The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly for the ban with 571 votes in favor, 53 against, and 34 abstentions. The European Federation of Plastics found the measures disproportionate. They blame ocean plastics pollution on the mismanagement of waste. Contrary to linguistic evidence, they also blame plastics pollution on a lack of public awareness.

Collins lexicographers monitor 4.5 billion words per year. They select a shortlist of potential WOTTIES which are no less interesting than the winner of them all. The following is the Collins shortlist of 2018 Wotties.

backstop - a system that will come into effect if no other arrangement is made.

floss – a dance in which people swing their hips in one direction while swinging their arms in the opposite direction with their fists clenched. People flossing look as though they are pulling a piece of dental floss back and forth between their legs.

gaslight (verb) - to attempt to manipulate (a person) by continually presenting them with false information until they doubt their sanity.

gammon – etymologically related to the 15th-century French term “jambon” referring to ham. Term used by Charles Dickens in 1838 in his novel Nicholas Nickleby in reference to “a large, self-satisfied, middle-aged man who professes an extreme patriotism in large part to disguise his essential selfishness and corruption.” Term used in 2018 on Twitter as an antidote to “snowflake”, meaning “red-faced angry person”.

#Metoo - cultural movement that seeks to expose and eradicate predatory sexual behavior, especially in the workplace.

plogging – activity of picking up litter while jogging in an effort to address global pollution in beauty spots. The term is a blend of the Swedish term plocka meaning to pick and the term jogging.

vegan - person who refrains from using any animal products whatsoever for food, clothing, or any other purpose.

whitewash (verb) - to cast a white actor in the role of (a character from a minority ethnic group) or to produce (a film or play) using white actors to play characters from a minority ethnic group.

VAR – abbreviation for video assistant referee. The term was written in the Laws of the Game by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) and used for the first time during the 2018 FIFA World cup.

References

Collins Dictionary WOTY 2018

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty

Collins 2018 WOTY shortlist

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/word-lovers-blog/new/collins-2018-word-of-the-year-shortlist,451,HCB.html

Etymology corner – Collins WOTY 2018 - Why single-use?
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/word-lovers-blog/ne w/etymology-corner-collins-word-of-the-year-2018,449,HCB.html

Le parlement européen votre pour l’interdiction des produits en plastique à usage unique (Oct. 24, 20180 Le Monde

https://www.lemonde.fr/pollution/article/2018/10/24/les-eurodeputes-pour-l-interdiction-des-produits-en-plastique-a-usage-unique_5374014_1652666.html

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Terminology : WOTTIES 2017 (2)

And the 2017 winner is… youthquake, according to the Oxford Living Dictionaries (OED).

The OED defines the term youthquake as:

”a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people”.

Usage spiked in June 2017, following the UK general election, when youth (the Millenials) turnout, in contrast to class, appeared as the most decisive force behind the labor party’s surge in the poll results. The term youthquake then spread across the globe, referring to major political clout, in such political action as the anti-corruption movement in Russia, and Australia’s call for marriage equality.

However, youthquakes have occurred in the past. The OED tracked the term youthquake back to 1965, in the US, when the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Magazine, Diane Vreeland, used it to qualify a year of sweeping changes centered around protest against the Vietnam war. She wrote:

The year’s in its youth, the youth in its year. Under 24 and over 90,000,000 strong in the US alone. More dreamers. More doers. Here. Now. Youthquake 1965.

The shortlist of potential OED WOTTIES* 2017 is also interesting. Consider fingering the following examples:

Antifa: defined by the OED as [noun; treated as singular or plural] a political protest movement comprising autonomous groups affiliated by their militant opposition to fascism and other forms of extreme right-wing ideology.

Broflake: defined by the OED as [derogatory, informal] a man who is readily upset or offended by progressive attitudes that conflict with his more conventional or conservative views.

Gorpcore: defined by the OED as [derogatory, informal] a man who is readily upset or offended by progressive attitudes that conflict with his more conventional or conservative views.

Kompromat: defined by the OED as [mass noun] compromising information collected for use in blackmailing, discrediting, or manipulating someone, typically for political purposes.

Milkshake Duck: defined by the OED as a person or thing that initially inspires delight on social media but is soon revealed to have a distasteful or repugnant past.

Newsjacking: defined by the OED as [mass noun; marketing] the practice of taking advantage of current events or news stories in such a way as to promote or advertise one's product or brand.

Back to the OED selection of youthquake as WOTY 2017, does everyone concur? The following HuffPost UK video randomly investigated usage.