When we were wee things still in school we were taught the rigid and unbending rules of language. One simply did not change sentence structure willy nilly or create new words. And no for the young ones in the back, it is not because we are old, people have been inventing new words since Shakespeare held a quill. But, with the ubiquity of the internet, and recent lockdown related meltdowns, the proliferation of new words has reached peak levels.

Someone thinks of something new, texts it or tweets it and it goes viral, the next thing you know we’re all saying things like yeet and chillax as if we’ve always used them. We actually appreciate the fluidity of language and think that the more words we have to describe our experience, the richer our lives become. There’s also the devolution of language with the rise of the emoji, but that’s another story for another day. 

Nothing adds new words to the vernacular as quickly as a collective experience like a pandemic. Without giving it much thought we’ve been picking up these words and using them because they help us explain, endure and cope with the situation. 

Here are some of our favorite new words so far:

Covidiot

An idiot in the time of Corona, similar to a Morona. We’re not sure who started using it, but Urban Dictionary user you’reandidiot added it on the 16th of March. His username checks out.

Coronapocalypse

Jon Evans appears to have coined the term when he used it in a TechCrunch article dated the 2nd of February explaining why people are under and over-reacting to the pandemic. The public does love a good end-of-the-world story so the world caught on like wildfire.

CoronaCancel

This has been floating around our casual conversations these days. It first started before lockdown and airports closing, when people were simply canceling plans and practicing social distancing. You CoronaCancel your attendance, your flights, and well, your social life for the foreseeable future. 

Infodemic

The World Health Organization might have been the first to use the word to complain that the pandemic was causing the quick spread of too much information.

As is often the case with outbreaks, the coronavirus is accompanied by an ‘infodemic’ – an overload of information and advice – some accurate and some not. See these resources for up-to-date and accurate information https://t.co/OhDlumskaYhttps://t.co/x2taxQQDcv

— Professor James Logan (@ProfJamesLogan) February 2, 2020

Iso 

Not to be confused with the International Organization for Standardization, #iso has been floating around our Insta feeds and refers to isolation, or self isolation in the time of Corona. #Iso is about what you’re doing while practicing physical distancing, or aspirational isolation goals. What are your #isolationgoals? 

DoomScrolling

We’re definitely guilty of constantly scrolling through all the terrible news. We blame Aza Raskin, but at least he apologized.

I know language work isn’t the hot topic right now, but I’m recommending it strictly as a coping mechanism: do you want to keep nervously doomscrolling #onhere or do you want to brush up on that language you keep saying you want to work on?

— Ellen Muehlberger (@emuehlbe) March 14, 2020

Feed Fatigue

It is not really a new word, but we’ve been feeling the effects right now in a way like never before. Everything from sourdough starters to scaremongering on our feed is stressing us out right now.

Coronacation

It appears that @kyla_vo was the first to use it on twitter, to describe the involuntary and unpaid vacation she got because of the pandemic.

An update on my crazy life during this coronacation 🌎https://t.co/FsUGyKmv3w

— ky (@kyla_vo) February 25, 2020

Morona 

See Covidiot, above. 

Zooming

Remember when we used to use this term in sentences in reference to motion? “I saw him zooming past the stop sign.” Sigh. Well, Zooming now refers to those endless Zoom calls and meetings. Due to the increase of lockdown measures, our lives went digital, and that’s not entirely a bad thing. Video chat platforms like Zoom facilitate work from home situations, distance learning, and connecting with our loved ones, near and far.  

Did we miss your new favourite word? DM us on Instagram @bazzaargram. Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash.