Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Public Address Word of the Year 2018

70 Responses

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  • mark taslov,

    and because it's coming from all quarters lately:

    transmisogyny

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Hugh Wilson,

    Ireland

    Melbourne • Since Feb 2013 • 168 posts Report Reply

  • kiwifarang,

    STRIKE!

    And if that doesn't work STRIKE AGAIN!

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 18 posts Report Reply

  • kiwifarang,

    Demonstration - as in the French manifestation

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 18 posts Report Reply

  • Rob S,

    Trump.
    I'm so over it but he's ubiquitous.

    Since Apr 2010 • 136 posts Report Reply

  • Andrew C,

    Robert Mueller

    Auckland • Since May 2008 • 169 posts Report Reply

  • simon g,

    Leak

    Featured in the media all year, but especially in the second half. Not a new word of course, but for sheer prominence, must be a contender.

    Tape

    Nominated in the sub-category of "Misused/Outdated Word of the Year". Various recordings have been in the news, none of which are on tape, but we baby-boomers like to cling to our ancient vocabulary, and we run the media, so there.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1333 posts Report Reply

  • John Trenwith,

    Auckland • Since Dec 2018 • 2 posts Report Reply

  • Trevor Nicholls,

    bluewave
    First Child
    fiasco

    Wellington, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 325 posts Report Reply

  • Andre,

    Mahi
    I think this was the year that the Maori word for work attained mainstream usage, along with a few others. You'll now hear mahi uttered on prime time news, often still followed by a translation to English, just in case.

    New Zealand • Since May 2009 • 371 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    As the year staggers to an end, it has to be ‘smocking’

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • linger, in reply to Andre,

    Though, as you note, that's part of a more general trend, which argues against singling mahi out. I've been on sabbatical in NZ this year after 20 years away, and have been feeling a bit Rip van Winklish to see the te reo loanwords I didn't know that have become mainstream.
    Even the macron has seen a surge in use (partly championed by Stuff), up from 0% in 1986 and around 30% online in the 2000s. (Possibly it reflects everyone now being able to use Google Translate and other online resources to check accuracy of loanword forms and meanings? Against which, my spellchecker then keeps annoyingly "correcting" them back to [other] English words, e.g. "te reo" becomes "the roe". So it's not entirely better living through technology.)
    So -- with a side nod to French politics -- how about Macron?

    Tokyo • Since Apr 2007 • 1944 posts Report Reply

  • Stamper Stamp,

    BREXIT

    Auckland • Since Feb 2014 • 27 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    ‘smocking’

    The furor over that usage by liberals indicates to me how much of a malignant influence Trump has been both on the right and the left. He came to office mocking disabled people, two years later he has the anglosphere deriding his literacy issues – which was always on the cards.

    The Flesch-Kincaid scale had him at forth to fifth grade during his campaign, now stuck on forth grade based on analysis of the first 30,000 words uttered while in office – the lowest of any US President on record.

    Whether it was a typo, a troll, an autocorrect fail or an indication of the limitations of his literacy, suffice to say things aren’t getting any easier for folk with developmental reading disorders in this climate.

    And it’s strange, because as we ridicule the literacy of individuals, what we’re also doing is shining a light onto the limitations of our own education systems and the meritocratic individualism they instill – i.e. those that are best served; flourish. Whereas those that are failed; deserve their lot in life.

    Which in its way helps explain the global impasse we’ve strapped ourselves into.

    nominating: elitism

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Rachel Prosser, in reply to Andre,

    Agreed! This has been a year when more and more Māori words and phrases became much more commonly used

    Christchurch • Since Mar 2008 • 228 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    thoughts and prayers

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    This is the year that several 'new' words have become commonly used, often in a negative way eg cis, TERF, woke, social justice warriors, virtue signalling.

    But I prefer the positive. I like that suggestion above for Neve. A new word to the NZ lexicon which means new life and hope.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov, in reply to Hilary Stace,

    cis

    I may be wrong about this, but I think it may have something to do with the Trump administration’s attempts to ban transgender people from serving in the US military, the Trump administration’s intention to define trans people out of existence by employing genetic testing to strip federal recognition of the gender identity of some 1.4 million Americans, the ongoing onslaught against trans people by the British media and closer to home the localisation of these campaigns by mainstream media, weighed up against the cis population’s ongoing patronage, and perceived tacit support for most of this. In a similarly emotive – but far from identical – manner to how we’ve seen the term ‘white’ being used in a negative way.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Jeff Howell,

    No collusion.

    Fairfield, Hamilton • Since Aug 2018 • 5 posts Report Reply

  • william blake,

    Vicarious trauma

    Recreational grief.

    Since Mar 2010 • 380 posts Report Reply

  • Nicole Murray,

    Kindness
    It's how we're distinguishing ourselves from the trash-fire of the rest of the world

    Wellington • Since Dec 2018 • 1 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn,

    Plasticban or Plasticfree

    Since Nov 2008 • 2 posts Report Reply

  • simon g, in reply to Hilary Stace,

    thoughts and prayers

    An early favourite, I think.

    Have we had Backstop yet?

    (Also, I vote against people's names being included, unless they've been turned into words, like Jacindamania).

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1333 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand, in reply to mark taslov,

    Mark; you are rather labouring the point. I nominated ‘smocking’ because it occured twice in his tweet, and both times in upper case. Difficult to attribute to anything other than Trump’s carelessness in communications and further demonstration of his ingrained stupidity. Perhaps he would consider ‘smoking’ to be false spelling.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    I like ‘kindness’ too, as an antidote to prevailing horrors.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

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