Language, as we know, isn’t static, but ever-evolving and this has certainly been the case during the pandemic, as it has during other times of crisis. Quarantine has been named Word of the Year 2020, and a number of the Cambridge Dictionary’s editors would like to see quaranteam – a mash-up of words meaning a group of people quarantining together – be added to the dictionary. Along a similar vein are the portmanteau words quaranteen (a teenager quarantining), coronial (during the time of the corona pandemic), lockstalgia (a hankering for the days of lockdown) and quarantini (your cocktail of choice drunk during a quarantine). There are even coronials, the generation born during the pandemic and then there’s Zoombombing (when a random person gets in on your Zoom chat).
For those learning English, or teaching it, Josef Essberger, who created the EnglishClub.com, has added a handy glossary of pandemic-related words on his website.
And remember, if you’re suffering from Zoom fatigue or worn down by doomscrolling, don’t be a covidiot – keep washing your hands and keep your distance.
