Are you keeping up?

          English is dynamic i.e. it changes and evolves as the world changes and evolves. Old words become archaic and fall by the wayside as new words and expressions are created when people find nothing suitable exists.

                        The recent and current political climate of the U.S. has resulted in a plethora of expressions most people had not been familiar with such as fake news and the post-truth era. These clearly define the current social climate where lies are often seen as truth. The latter was chosen as the word of the year by the Oxford dictionaries.

                        Other words were shortlisted. These included: adulting, meaning behaving like a responsible adult (although it is often used ironically on social media); chatbot, a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users; alt-right, an ideological grouping associated with extreme conservative or reactionary viewpoints.

                        While surreal was chosen as the 2016 word of the year by Merriam-Webster, other words and expressions also looked up often in 2016 included: revenant (remember the movie?) which means one who returns after death or a long absence; faute de mieux, often used in legal decisions, is French for lack of something better; feckless, which was often used in last year’s U.S. campaign, means weak and ineffective. 

            The English language has over a million words. And the number continues to increase. These words are not all in the dictionary because a good portion of them simply become part of the language landscape gradually. Case in point: on applications for dating services no-longer-quite-as-young people find all sorts of ways of avoiding terms like plump or balding, preferring things like warmly hugable. Other interesting words: nomophia: fear of being without access to a working cell phone; Mx: the new gender neutral title of courtesy (if you don’t like Mr. or Ms.). 

            One expression, which was recently used by Trump staffer Kellyanne Conway is one that I find rather worrisome. The woman used alternative fact to refute a proven fact, and thus lie. Imagine if that expression becomes widely used by teenagers!

            Other terms making the rounds: banana republican, one who wants to lower taxes for the rich leading to increased income disparity and thus bring the country closer to banana republic status. Tweetplomacy: using social media to conduct diplomatic discussions publicly. And then there is infowar the “countering of false narratives,” which may be needed by parents whose kids have discovered alternative facts!

            Millennials seem to favor certain words at certain times. Bitching (meaning good) has dropped out of fashion. Awesome is now the word du jour which applies to almost anything and anyone. But, let’s not forget that cool is still very much in usage, while ratchet is used to describe a gross or bad girl. Of course, if you don’t already know, sick also means awesome or cool, while wicked and uber add emphasis, i.e. “That story made me wicked sad” or “I’m uber tired.” My bad is used to refer to one’s mistake.

            With today’s instant communication, we embrace abbreviations. Here are a few I came across: FOMO: fear of missing out; DOX: publishing private info about someone; SNM: say no more; MA: my angel; and TMI: too much information.

            We’d better try to keep up because language will continue to evolve whether we like it or not.