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Quote:Doomscrolling On A Staycation? Here Are The OED's 'Words Of An Unprecedented Year'
November 23, 20207:19 PM ET
ANDREW LIMBONG
[img=575x0]https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2020/11/23/gettyimages-1213555701_wide-fad793b08f9da0e2f57928d416d24a9bd0850efa-s1200-c85.jpg[/img]
"Flatten the curve" is one of the many new phrases introduced into the lexicon this year that would've made little sense in 2019.
Al Bello/Getty Images
Just a year ago, a sentence like "I was in[b] self-quarantine[/b] so I had nothing to do but [b]doomscroll[/b] and found an article about an [b]anti-mask[/b] rally that looks like a [b]superspreader event[/b]" would've gotten you pinged as a weirdo, but it's completely normal for 2020.
That's why the [i]Oxford English Dictionary[/i] — which usually announces a single word of the year — has instead released the [b]Oxford Languages Words of an Unprecedented Year[/b] report, looking at the many words now in our shared vocabulary.
"The English language is studded with words from previous plagues and pandemics, mass social disruption, and an abundance of expressions that fulfil humanity's perennial need to describe an often inhospitable world," the [i]OED[/i] report reads. "Though what was genuinely unprecedented this year was the hyper-speed at which the English-speaking world amassed a new collective vocabulary relating to the coronavirus, and how quickly it became, in many instances, a core part of the language."
The report notes that by April, the word "coronavirus" was more frequently used than the word "time," one of the most frequently used nouns in the English language.
Our vocabulary also reflected how we responded to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as its effects on the economy so words such as "remote," "Zoom-ready" and "furlough" saw a sharp rise in usage.
Not all of the words on the [i]OED[/i] list are directly tied to the coronavirus pandemic. "Black Lives Matter," "defund," and "systemic racism" saw a rise this summer, coinciding with the protests over racism and police violence.
Last year's Word of the Year was "climate emergency," but according to the [i]OED[/i], the usage of climate-related terms plummeted earlier this year, and now show signs of ticking back up again slowly.
If language is a living thing, then 2020 qualifies as a growth spurt.