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kottke.org posts about Gemma Correll

Covid-19 Slang and How Language Evolves Quickly in Stressful Times

Couchella

Kate Burridge and Howard Manns recently wrote a piece about how the Covid-19 pandemic is changing the English language. It’s written from an Australian perspective, so some of the slang might be a bit hard to follow for Americans et al.

In these times of COVID-19, there are the usual suspects: shortenings like “sanny” (hand sanitizer) and “iso” (isolation), abbreviations like BCV (before corona virus) and WFH (working from home), also compounds “corona moaner” (the whingers) and “zoombombing” (the intrusion into a video conference).

Plenty of nouns have been “verbed” too โ€” the toilet paper/pasta/tinned tomatoes have been “magpied”. Even rhyming slang has made a bit of a comeback with Miley Cyrus lending her name to the virus (already end-clipped to “the Miley”). Some combine more than one process โ€” “the isodesk” (or is that “the isobar”) is where many of us are currently spending our days.

“I’ve got the Miley”…I’ve always been a fan of rhyming slang. Linguist Tony Thorne, who specializes in slang & jargon, has compiled a list of new language introduced to (and by) the general public because of the pandemic.

Quarantimes - a hashtag or label for the prevailing circumstances under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic

Rona, Lady Rona, roni, rone - the coronavirus personified/familiarised

Boomer remover - the coronavirus viewed as a phenomenon resulting in the decimation of the baby boomer demographic

Covidiot - a person behaving irresponsibly in conditions of containment

Doomscrolling/doomsurfing - obsessively accessing upsetting news online

Infits - outfits worn in conditions of confinement

Zoom mullet - a hairstyle developed in lockdown which is ‘camera-ready’ (presentable to a webcam) at front and sides and dishevelled at the rear

Covid waltz - manoeuvring to avoid close contact with passers-by while distance restrictions are in place

Apropos Couchella illustration by the awesome Gemma Correll. (via lera boroditsky)


Death by chocolate and other dangerous desserts

Death By Chocolate

From illustrator Gemma Correll. Check out the rest of her stuff, including gangsta wrap and emotional baggage.