What’s your word of 2020?

What’s your word of the year? The wimpish Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has decided not to choose only one because 2020 is, “a year which cannot be neatly accommodated in one single word”.

No doubt you could think of an appropriate word for 2020. Have a go.

OED’s indecisiveness is reminiscent of Tokyo Sexwale’s cop-out when he named two winners during the 2005 finale of the South African version of The Apprentice. Certainly not the style of the show’s most famous host, Donald (“You’re Fired”) Trump.

Collins Dictionary chose “lockdown” for 2020 word of the year. Obvious isn’t it?

“Coronavirus” is on the OED list, alongside “Covid-19”, “pandemic”, “face masks”, “remotely”, “mute”, “unmute” and phrases such as “follow the science” and “flatten the curve”.

US influence is evident in the OED list, with “impeachment”, “acquittal”, “Black Lives Matter”, “BLM” “QAnon”, and “conspiracy theory”.

QAnon is described by Wikipedia as a far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles is running a global child sex-trafficking ring. These Satanists are supposedly plotting against Trump, who is fighting the cabal. Really.

The OED 2020 word list doesn’t reflect Trump’s reluctance to “concede” the presidential result. An updated list would surely include “recount”, “fraud”, “lawsuit”, “certify”, “transition” and CNN’s favourite, “baseless claims”. With 88.9 million Twitter followers, and 24/7 media coverage, Trump must be one of the most used words in 2020.

There’s a northern hemisphere bias in the OED list. For most South Africans, unless we follow international news channels, coronavirus jargon doesn’t include “shelter-in-place”, “bubble” and “circuit breaker”. Instead of “shelterin-place”, we say stay home.

A UK support “bubble”, means a group of people from two or more households who have close physical contact. The bubble’s aim is to help people who’ve been cut off from family and friends.

UK bubbles are meant to be exclusive. Once in one bubble, you are not supposed to start another bubble with a different household. A UK “circuit breaker” is a reversion to lockdown for a fixed period. If the curve won’t flatten, you break the viral circuit and mix metaphors.

Our SA lockdown spin-offs would surely include “hybrid”, “virtual”, “social distancing”, and “vaccine”. Plus the local speciality, “PPE corruption scandal”. That’s our style.

Words evoking 2020 need not be confined to the pandemic. Consider the following: “junk status”, “bailout”, “skip bail”, and “step aside”, which ANC cadres side step with impunity.

At city level we have “potholes”, “dug-up pavements”, “power outages”, “no water”, “garbage piling up”, and “billing nightmare”.

A lot has indeed gone wrong in 2020. If Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II hadn’t annexed the phrase in 1992, many of us would say 2020 was our annus horribilis. Spelt with two ns, or the meaning changes.

It is sinful to despair. There is nothing gained by dwelling on the negative. All things must pass and they will. Many will pass emigration control on their way out.

If the exodus continues at this rate, Joburg’s word of the year will be Armageddon.

Armageddon gettin’ outa here.

Martin Williams, DA councillor and former editor of The Citizen.

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