It comes as no surprise that the word "lockdown" was the Collins Dictionary Word of the Year 2020, the year when our lives were stopped in motion by the coronavirus pandemic. The word "lockdown" was used to describe the containment measures implemented by governments worldwide to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Collins registered more than 250,000 usages of the word "lockdown" during 2020, compared with only 4,000 the previous year. It was also a unifying experience for billions of people worldwide, who have collectively played their part in the fight against COVID-19.
It stands to reason that other common words used for 2020 were also associated with the pandemic. Social distancing, self-isolation, and pandemic have been regular utterances over the past two years.
I am sure that this year's word of the year will also be pandemic related. I predict it will be the word "Delta", as it was the Delta variant that extended the lockdowns when we thought they were behind us.
A close second to Delta for word of the year will be "QR Code". I know it is two words, but QR Codes are being used extensively as a no-contact way to gather contact tracing information from people. I would suspect that most people wouldn't know what a QR Code is or what it does, but they have had to learn quickly.
Forget the word of the year, your ability to eat out at a restaurant is now very much dependent upon your capacity to master the QR Code.
Collins registered more than 250,000 usages of the word "lockdown" during 2020, compared with only 4,000 the previous year. It was also a unifying experience for billions of people worldwide, who have collectively played their part in the fight against COVID-19.
It stands to reason that other common words used for 2020 were also associated with the pandemic. Social distancing, self-isolation, and pandemic have been regular utterances over the past two years.
I am sure that this year's word of the year will also be pandemic related. I predict it will be the word "Delta", as it was the Delta variant that extended the lockdowns when we thought they were behind us.
A close second to Delta for word of the year will be "QR Code". I know it is two words, but QR Codes are being used extensively as a no-contact way to gather contact tracing information from people. I would suspect that most people wouldn't know what a QR Code is or what it does, but they have had to learn quickly.
Forget the word of the year, your ability to eat out at a restaurant is now very much dependent upon your capacity to master the QR Code.
Coming from my bubble I think the word of the year would be