The Words that Shaped 2021
Language is the vector of the history of human evolution. Words have the power to shape revolutions, inspire people to kill or get killed, and on the other hand, new words are born out of events such as pandemic, technology. and remote work. Words languishing in the dictionary find themselves picked up by events or a person of prominence and go viral. Here is my take on words that were at the center of the storm and those that were born out of it.
The Great Resignation
The pandemic unleashed massive disruption, and so did remote working by entire humanity. Importance of health and the realization that life is uncertain, led to people switching their job to do work that mattered and that made them happy. The resignations, highest in US history (4.3 million) snowballed into a conspicuous phenomenon, and the term, “The Great Resignation” resonated with all.
Companies have realized that they need to do something to improve employee experience and change things genuinely so that their talent stays with them longer.
Languishing
Did two years of pandemic and lockdowns made you feel restless, depressed and weak? There is a word for what we all have felt – “languishing”. A state of dispirited or apathetic feeling, with lack of focus.
Example: “Languishing workforce needs rejuvenation and team bonding”
Hybrid Work
Pandemic has changed our lives forever, there is no going back to the old, to the status quo ante. If the way we live has changed, certainly the way we work must also follow suit.
We are in the new normal, companies will have to care for their people in a new way and offer greater flexibility. The word Hybrid Work refers to the combination of remote and office work, but how exactly it will shape up, only time could tell.
Example: “The new normal demands companies to care for their people in newer ways and give them more options to choose how, when and where they want to work.”
Sayonara and Miraitowa – The Mascot of Summer Olympic Games Tokyo 2021
Sayonara is perhaps a well known word from Japanese, meaning goodbye.
Miraitowa, an adorable robot was the mascot, it means the feelings of everlasting hope for people of the world. The name comes from the Japanese words mirai (“future”) and towa (“eternity”).
Adulting (New Word)
Recently added to Oxford dictionary, it means the action of becoming or acting like an adult. Doing tasks vital to daily life – like cooking, insurance, taxes, etc.
Example – Lockdowns had a lot of people forced into adulting.
Doomscrolling (New Word)
Made with Doom (the end) and scrolling, it means looking for bad news on social media, obsessively waiting for updates. Recently added by Dictionary.com.
Example – “He has been depressed since the outbreak of the second wave, primarily because he is a doomscroller.”
Vaxxed (New Word)
This new word refers to a fully vaccinated person.
Example: “Booster shots for fully vaxxed individuals.”
Words from Tech and Science
Our world has become far more interesting and intriguing, especially the digital one. Here are some words from the world of tech.
Deplatform
Donald Trump was deplatformed, after the attack on US senate.The word means to remove and ban a user from using a social networking website.
Example – “Mind what you write on social media, not only is there the risk of getting deplatformed, but also of being judged with your digital footprint.”
Digital Nomad
All the remote workers who have been working remotely and travelling places are digital nomads. How cool is that!
Example – “It was about time that he came out of his 5–9 job and embraced the free world of digital nomad.”
NFT (Non-Fungible Token)
Blockchain technology has been consistently making headlines as a technology that will take the center stage in the future. A non-fungible token (NFT) is a certificate of ownership that’s created on blockchain technology for non-reproducible digital collectibles, such as art, music, or games. Each NFT certificate carries inherent value, details ownership rights, and is easily transferred. NFT was much spoken about in 2021, even the McDonald’s McRib NFT was given away in November 2021 to promote the sandwich’s 40th anniversary.
Bit Rot: It refers to the tendency for data to degrade or become unusable over time, making it impossible to read.
Copypasta: Data (such as a block of text) that has been copied and spread widely online. Copypasta can be a lighthearted meme or it can have a more serious intent, with a political or cultural message.
Teraflop: The supercomputers are so fast that they need an altogether different unit to measure their speed. Tera stands for 1 trillion, and flop stands for “floating-point operation”.
CubeSat: A satellite with one cubic meter volume, generally used for academic or ameteur research projects.
The Words From Politics
Words are important in politics because one needs to be craft to assign blame, rebut and even further propagandas.
Allodoxaphobia
When Shashi Tharoor, the Member of Indian parliament, shares a word on Twitter, the nation reads and learns. In his tweet, he said he has been searching for this word for years. Allodoxaphobia means irrational fear of opinions. His tweet was a dig at the Indian ruling party BJP.
Whataboutism: Answering an accusation by pointing out the wrongdoings of the one asking the question.
“Since the Cold War, Moscow has engaged in a political points-scoring exercise known as “whataboutism” used to shut down criticism of Russia’s own rights record by pointing out abuses elsewhere. All criticism of Russia is invalid, the idea goes, because problems exist in other countries too.
– Max Seddon, Buzzfeed, 25 Nov. 2014
