My 2020 thesaurus overload is “unprecedented”

My 2020 thesaurus overload is “unprecedented”

Words of the year and what they mean to me

It has been a joy for me to read Words of an Unprecedented Year, the Oxford Languages lexical round-up of 2020. Usually, this would guide us to a single Word of the Year. But these are of course extraordinary, challenging, unprecedented, strange or apocalyptic times (choose your favourite adjective) so they’ve come up with a timeline of word prevalence as the pandemic and other events of the year (yes, there were some) have unfolded.

If you love language, read the whole thing, which you can find for free on the OUP Languages website – it’s a fascinating and of course beautifully written 38 pages. I’ve picked out ten definitions that stick in my head, in no particular order.

1. Anthropause n. a global slowdown of travel and other human activities

I like the formality and grandeur of this term. It conveys how universal and substantial the pandemic impact has been.

2. Zoombombing n. the practice of infiltrating video conference calls on the Zoom application, and posting violent, pornographic, or offensive content 

It’s prudent to use any terms that include ‘bombing’ with caution, but this is an economical way to encapsulate a newly minted digital problem.

3. Blursday n. a day of the week that is indistinguishable from any other

We’ve all experienced this one in 2020. And as I get older, I daresay I’ll apply it ever more frequently!

4. Unprecedented adj. never done or known before

I used to love this word. Now, I seem to look for synonyms for it in almost everything I write. It’s exactly the right word for 2020, but it’s been so overused that it has lost its impact. It seems apt that Oxford Languages has chosen it as a title adjective.

5. Allyship n. active support for the rights of a minority or marginalized group without being a member of it

I have worked on comms for several diversity and inclusion programmes this year – allyship is a constructive term for authentic and respectful support and actions.

6. Cancel culture n. a culture in which there is a widespread practice of publicly rejecting or withdrawing support from people or things regarded as promoting socially unacceptable views

An alarming phenomenon that’s fuelled in part by the power of strong words on social media. They gather momentum so rapidly.

7. Covidiot n. (depreciative) a person who disobeys guidelines designed to prevent the spread of Covid-19

Love this one. It’s almost impossible to say it without giving it tabloid-style emphasis, in rampant capitals. COVIDIOTS!

8. Furlough n. a period of time during which workers are told not to come to work, usually because there is not enough money to pay them

I’d heard this word before 2020 but didn’t know precisely what it meant – it was somehow entangled in my mind with ‘furlong’ (a distance measure commonly used in horse racing.) It also means permission to leave prison for a short time or to take a break from military duties. In the pandemic context, it’s interesting that paid work is thus associated with onerous assignments or incarceration. In practice, furlough has different resonances depending on how it affects you. Some of those still at work have envied the furloughed, paid to stay at home baking sourdough and doing jigsaws. Others have feared that their furlough will be a precursor to redundancy.

9. Moonshot n. an extremely ambitious and innovative project

I didn’t know what this meant until recently – I thought it was perhaps something like tilting at windmills (a doomed project) or might be connected to the 007 film (and book) Moonraker, with all its fantastical connotations. Perhaps I wasn’t so wrong.

10. Doomscrolling n. the action of compulsively scrolling through social media or news feeds which relate bad news

A powerful temptation in these unprecedented times. Let’s try and give it up for Christmas, shall we?

Thanks to my friend and comms pro par excellence Fiona Henry for inspiring me to write this blog post. I’m sorry we – and others in our informal and supportive local network – can’t meet for our usual Christmas self-employed dinner. Goodwill remains strong even if it’s not fuelled by a festive pub meal and drinks this year!