Is it just me or did an astonishing number of new words appear over the last few months? Language expert Adam Jacot di Boinod (‘Jacot’) has compiled a list so here’s my selection of vocabulary additions that I’ve noticed coming into everyday use:
Birth striker – A woman who nobly chooses not to have children for environmental reasons because she is concerned about the size of the world’s population.
Dog fishing – A man who poses with a pooch, not necessarily his own, on his dating profile to appear more attractive. Not to be confused with ‘Catfishing’, the considerably less innocent practice where someone creates a fake identity on a social network account. These usually target a specific victim for abuse, deception, or fraud. Catfishing is often employed for romance scams on dating websites.
Flat white economy – The wealth created through the sheer number of people who now use a coffee shop or café to work in.
Green screen – Now not just the literal green screen used in TV and film production on which different backgrounds can be projected but also a large steel grid densely covered with ivy, found to be an effective barrier against air pollution.
Hypebeast – A young person obsessed with buying the latest expensive designer clothes.
Mumoir – Typically a book, but can be an article, based on the writer’s personal experience of being a mother.
Sadfishing – Those annoying friends who post something deliberately vague hinting at an emotional problem on social media to attract attention and sympathetic responses.
Slashie – Someone who has lots of different jobs at the same time. We’re familiar with “model slash actress” but the possibilities are endless. Contemporary combinations include “writer/dog walker/barista”.
Therapet – An animal, usually but not always a dog, which has been specially trained to calm people with stress or anxiety. As well as visiting the sick or elderly, recent newspaper reports suggest they’re being used to help nervous first year university students relax and to calm people down in custody suites.
Yarden – You can probably guess this one: a small yard behind a house that has been turned into a garden.
Have I missed any of your favourite new words? Get in touch to let me know!
