{"id":209097,"date":"2021-03-23T21:53:42","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T18:53:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/who-are-you-bubbling-with-how-covid-19-has-changed-language-over-the-past-year\/"},"modified":"2021-03-23T21:53:42","modified_gmt":"2021-03-23T18:53:42","slug":"who-are-you-bubbling-with-how-covid-19-has-changed-language-over-the-past-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/who-are-you-bubbling-with-how-covid-19-has-changed-language-over-the-past-year\/","title":{"rendered":"#&#8217;Who are you bubbling with?&#8217; How COVID-19 has changed language over the past year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#&#8217;Who are you bubbling with?&#8217; How COVID-19 has changed language over the past year<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n                            From <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social<\/a> distancing to variants of concern, pandemic-specific terms have become part of our everyday vernacular\n                        <\/div>\n<div>\n                                                                        <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A year ago, our lexicon was suddenly filled with <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">new terms<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like self-isolation, WFH (work from home) and PPE (personal protective equipment). In March 2020, every slot in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oxford English Dictionary<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OED<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/public.oed.com\/blog\/corpus-analysis-of-the-language-of-covid-19\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">monthly list of top 20 key words<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was occupied by pandemic-linked words.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A year later, \u201cCOVID vocabulary still dominates the key words in our monitor corpus of English,\u201d says F<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">iona McPherson, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OED<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s senior editor of new words, in an email interview from Germany<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. That corpus, which contains more than 11 billion words of web-based <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> content from 2017 to now, is updated every month.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OED<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> provided <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maclean\u2019s<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with pandemic terms in order of their \u201ckeyness,\u201d meaning \u201cwords that are significantly more frequent in one part of the corpus than in the corpus as a whole,\u201d explains <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">McPherson. Words frequently used month after month (think \u201cCanada\u201d or \u201cgo\u201d or \u201cday\u201d) are excluded.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pandemic-related keywords from January show the attention devoted to vaccination efforts as well as the spread of those new variants of concern:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vaccination<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vaccinate<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vaccine<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">dose<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">inoculate<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">transmissible<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">inoculation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rollout\/roll-out<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">jab<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">variant<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">administer<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vaccinator<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">immunisation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mutation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vial<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">immunization<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">immunize<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">strain<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mRNA<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">efficacy<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mutate<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PCR<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u00a0RELATED:\u00a0Tracking COVID-19\u2019s evolving language, from \u2018self-isolation\u2019 to \u2018social distancing\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vaccination was No. 3 in January, after insurrection and rioter [used to describe the attack on the U.S. capital on Jan. 6]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u201d explains McPherson.\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the early days, much of the focus was on our behaviour and how that had to change. We\u2019ve seen a shift toward more scientific terminology as things progressed and thoughts turned to vaccines. And this has continued as the vaccines have become available and the whole process of having people vaccinated has gathered pace.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though the term COVID-19 was created in 2020 by the World Health Organization, other pandemic terminology isn\u2019t new at all. \u201cEfficacy\u201d (<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the ability to produce a desired or intended result) dates back to 1527. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The year 1644 marks the earliest usage of the specific pandemic-related meaning of \u201ctransmissible,\u201d which means the ability to be passed on from one person or organism to another. \u201cVariant,\u201d a form or version of something that differs in some respect from other forms of the same thing or from a standard, is from 1849, though McPherson notes that the adjective is much older. One word that is notably newer than the others is \u201cmRNA\u201d (messenger RNA: the form of RNA in which genetic information transcribed from DNA as a sequence of bases is transferred to a ribosome), which was first mentioned in 1961.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>RELATED:\u00a0Researchers looking for mRNA were ridiculed by colleagues. Luckily, that didn\u2019t stop them.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2020, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">new meanings were added to words already in the dictionary, including \u201cbubble,\u201d which now connotes a group <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">consisting of a restricted number of people who have a close relationship or regular social contact and \u201cface shield,\u201d whose first usage dates back to the 1840s in Georgia when it likely referenced a sun protector,<\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/public.oed.com\/blog\/the-oed-march-2021-update\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">explained the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OED <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">update<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in March 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The English language isn\u2019t alone in creating new meanings and words during this pandemic. Germany is<\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.owid.de\/docs\/neo\/listen\/corona.jsp#impfvordraengler\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tracking some 1,200 pandemic words<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, ranging from some that need no translation, such as <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">coronapanik <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">home-work-out<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">impfvordr\u00e4ngler<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (someone illegally jumping ahead in the vaccine priority list) and <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">spuckschutzscheibe<\/span><\/em> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(spitting protection shield),<\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kniggem\/status\/1371525534253871105?s=20\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">explained journalist Michael Knigge in a tweet<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s also of note is that <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">there are some very specific regional variations of COVID terminology, such as the ways certain geographic areas refer to the immunization effort. In the United States, the ubiquitous phrase is \u201cshots in the arm,\u201d while in the United Kingdom, \u201cjabs in the arm\u201d is common phrasing. McPherson found variations within Britain itself: \u201cJag tends to be used by Scottish people, and jab by the rest of the U.K. (well, definitely England). It amused my in-laws who are English, but living in Scotland. The first thing that comes to their minds when they hear, \u2018So-and-so got his jag today\u2019 is a brand new Jaguar car.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>RELATED:\u00a0COVID-19 in Canada: How our battle to stop the pandemic is going<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As for what\u2019s next in the language, McPherson wonders, \u201cWill it be all the things we have missed doing, or will some new or surprising vocabulary emerge?\u201d She\u2019s learned not to make any predictions: \u201cIf there\u2019s one thing I know doing this job, don\u2019t second-guess language.\u201d <\/span>And, if this year has taught us anything, it\u2019s to not underestimate a pandemic. Even as vaccines roll out, it\u2019s not time to put away the\u00a0<i>spuckschutzscheibe <\/i>just yet.<br \/>\n<span class=\"ctx-article-root\"><!-- --><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/society\/who-are-you-bubbling-with-how-covid-19-has-changed-language-over-the-past-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#&#8217;Who are you bubbling with?&#8217; How COVID-19 has changed language over the past year&#8221; From social distancing to variants of concern, pandemic-specific terms have become part of our everyday vernacular A year ago, our lexicon was suddenly filled with new terms like self-isolation, WFH (work from home) and PPE (personal protective equipment). In March 2020,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/TorontoOutdoorBubbleDining-766x431.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[67892,1356,67806,97695],"class_list":["post-209097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-coronavirus-in-canada","tag-covid-19","tag-editors-picks","tag-language"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}