This week dictionary websites announced a universal word of the year based on the number of times it appears in media. Merriam Webster and Dictionary.com declared Pandemic as a clear winner. For the first time ever Oxford English Dictionary declared 47 words. Casper Grathwohl, the president of Oxford Dictionaries, said "I've never witnessed a year in language like the one we've just had. It's both unprecedented and a little ironic - in a year that left us speechless, 2020 has been filled with new words unlike any other."
I have done my best to include all of them here.
COrona VIrus Disease – 19 is a viral disease of animals and man that has spread rapidly throughout the world as a pandemic believed to originate in wetmarkets. The world responded with circuit breaker practices to stem the spread of the disease and to maintain a low R number. Washing hands proved most effective especially the use of Veronica Buckets in developing countries or sanny in developed. Life as we knew it stopped. Man and nature took an Anthropause. Freedom to travel, to go to work, to even shop stopped.
We were overwhelmed with an infodemic of advice and statistics becoming a hygiene theatre of the absurd. False truths, rumors and conspiracy theories created a plandemic. Companies, in an effort to surive offered furloughs to staff. There were global shortages of personal protective equipment. Some doomscrollers became addicted to negative news.
Working from home we created workation spaces to stay connected and productive. We connected through zoom and learned to mute and unmute. While hackers zoombombed our calls. Our children attend virtual classrooms where the teachers attempt to address all 5 learning modalities.
We wistfully remembered life BC with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc rather than blursday. We practice social distancing in public, self isolating in private and remain in our social bubbles. Total lockdown is a distinct possiblitiy and has been successful in some locations. However some covidiot antimaskers could be superspreaders responsible for community transmisison.
The US Presedential election was won through mail-in ballots. BLM ignited a movement to eradicate systemic racism. Reference was made to Juneteenth when slaves were declared free in 1862. Police brutality was met with universal calls for defunding and restructuring. Professional athletes showed their support by taking a knee. Public figures were quick to virtue-signal in social media, while the public quickly cancel cultured those deemed offensive.
Winter is typically the flu season, this year we face the challenge of a twindemic. The seemingly impossible moonshot of net zero infections drives creative solutions and resilience as we remember, ‘this too shall pass’.