Signs of the times. New words in 2018

Signs of the times

The lexicon of 2018 is depressing. But the buzz words won’t last

I Lead-in.

a)    Think of at least three words that could describe your year 2018 (this year in your life). Compare your list with other students’ words and explain your choice of particular words.

b)    Take 2 minutes to write down as many words as you can associate with year 2018 (this year in the world).  Compare your list with other students’ words and explain your choice of particular words.

c)    What do you know about choosing ‘the word of the year’? Who chooses such words? Why are they chosen? What characteristics should a word or phrase have to be chosen the ‘word of the year’?

d)    Think of at least one new word in English and one word in your mother tongue you would name the ‘word of the year’. Get ready to explain the meaning of the word and your choice.

II Match the words with their meanings. Use three words in your sentences.

peculiar; quaint; zeitgeisty; landfill; condition; single-use; hot; noxious; anxiety; notable; disposable; insult; documentary; nonetheless; poll

1.    nervousness or worry

2.    offensive remark

3.    a type of disease

4.    newly created

5.    attractive because its unusual

6.    characteristic of

7.    TV program that gives facts

8.    designed to be used a limited number of times and then thrown away

9.    designed to be used only once

10.characteristic of a particular period of history

11.despite what has been said

12.remarkable

13.area where waste and garbage is buried

14.poisonous and harmful

15.a study in which people are asked their opinions about a subject

III Listen to the recording and fill in the gaps with the words from the list. There are some words you don’t need to use.

English; familiar; older; vocabulary; particular; mobile phone; landslide; conceptually ;edition; referring; plastics; success; landfills; hot; publisher; choice; lucky; columnist; concept; depressing; correspond; announcement; dictionary; documentary; oceans; anxieties; selected; noxious; poll; quaint; fear; condition; particle; selection; Anglophone; succeed

Cambridge 1)_______ recently 2)_______ “nomophobia” as its word of the year, via a 3)_______ of readers. Those 4)_______ enough not to have heard of this 5)_______ are nonetheless probably 6)_______ with its symptoms: it refers to the 7)_______ of not having your 8)___    ____. The 9)_______ seems almost 10)_______; the 11)_______ is neither peculiar to 2018 (it is years 12)_______ than that) nor especially 13)_______. Your 14)_______  had never heard of the term before the 15)_______.

But it says a lot that the 16)_______ is one of the least 17)_______ made for 2018, another year in which the most notable new or newly zeitgeisty 18)_______ words 19)_______ to a wave of insults and 20)_______ in the 21)_______ world. Collins, another dictionary 22)_______, chose “single-use” as its word of the year, 23)_______ to disposable 24)_______ that make their ways into 25)_______ and seas. Britain in 26)_______ is newly conscious of such 27)_______ rubbish after the 28)_______ of “Blue Planet II”, a BBC 29)_______ series about the 30)_______.

IV Listen to the recording and mark the sentences as True or False.

1)      Cambridge dictionary selected the word of the year that describes the fear of forgetting phone numbers.

2)      The editors of Cambridge dictionary selected the word of the year at the special meeting.

3)      This word is widely used in English and came as no surprise.

4)      Most words that became part of the ‘word of the year’ lists refer to unpleasant concepts, insults, and anxieties.

5)       Some choices of the ‘words of the year’ show that people think about ecology.

6)       TV shows can influence the popularity of words that can be selected as ‘words of the year’.

7)      A Hollywood blockbuster about ocean monsters influences the choice of the ‘word of the year’ for Collins dictionary.

8)       In Britain people start to worry more about artificial fabrics in clothes and their influence of our planet.

V Listen to the recording and choose the correct option to complete the sentences.

From there things get more poisonous/poisoned/poised still. Oxford Dictionaries choice/choosing/chose “toxic” as its emblem for 2018. That word has come to be attached/attachment/attract to many others: toxic masculine/masculinity/muscular, toxic homosociality (male bonding through awfully/awful/lawfully behaviour), toxic debates/probate/probed over things like transgender bright/rights/cried. And Oxford’s shortlist of other contenders/contest/tenderly was nearly as bleak. It included “gaslighting” (trying to make someone doubt their own memory or even sanity) and “incel” (self-described “involuntarily celibate” men, an decreased/increasing/increase number of whom have taken to violence).

A kind of opposed/opposite/proposed of “toxic” has also had a big year: fragility/agile/regime, as in “white fragility”. This refers to the inability (or allegation/alligator/alleged inability) of whites to handle claims/famed/frame of racism perpetrated against non-whites, so that they panic/sonic/tonic when the subject is brought up, shutting down discussions about discrimination, prevail/privilege/privileged and worse. Coming out of the pandemic/academic/academia school of “critical race theory”, white fragility has given birth to “male fragility”, “cis fragility” (on the part of popular/people/populated who are not transgender/transgress/transit), and so on.

Dictionary.com made an interesting choose/chose/choice with “misinformation” as its word of the year. Why not “disinformation”? One rapture/editor/editions explained that disinformation refers/preference/reference to an intentional effort to spread lies; misinformation is the spreading of false information with or without that content/intend/intent. In other words, Russian troll farms engine/engage/enrage in disinformation; when unwitting Americans share those posts, that’s misinformation – which, in the end, is the bigger problem. This, too, feels older than 2018, though. “Post-truth” was Oxford’s pick/prick/peck in 2016.

VI In the previous passage find words and expressions that match the definitions. Use ten words or words combinations in your sentences.

1.    extremely unpleasant and likely to spoil relationship or situation

2.    a person, especially a man, who identifies as being frustrated by a lack of opportunities to have sex

3.    not have sex during a particular period of their life

4.    to deal with

5.    questionably true

6.    lack of ability to do something

7.    a competitor

8.    the state of having a healthy mind

9.    a limited list of important items or individuals

10.attempting to make (someone) believe that he or she is going insane

11.racial prejudice

12.extremely bad

13.something that represents an idea

14.an organization whose members try to create conflict online by posting provocative comments

15.relating to a person whose gender identity is the same as the sex the person had at birth

16.relating to a situation in which people are influenced not by facts but by their emotions or by beliefs

17.the quality of being easily broken or destroyed

18.extremely simple

19.treating a person or people differently, especially in a worse way than other people because of their skin colour, sex, age, etc.

20.without knowing

VII Listen to the recording and answer the questions.

1)    What word did Oxford Dictionaries choose as the emblem of 2018?

2)    What collocations did the word ‘toxic’ appear in?

3)    What other words were among the contenders to become the word of year 2018? What concepts do those words name?

4)    Why was the idea of fragility relevant in 2018? What word combinations with ‘fragility’ were mentioned in the recording?

5)    What is the role of the concept of race in 2018? What phrases were created in 2018 to describe the attitudes towards discrimination and inequality?

6)    What is the difference between ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ according to the recording? Who creates ‘misinformation’? Who spreads false information?

7)    What was Oxford’s choice of the word in 2016? What does this word mean?

VIII Listen to the recording and fill in the gaps with the missing words. 

Several other 1)______ are yet to name their 2)______ of the year. What else might they 3)______? Brexit was a source of many new words or 4)______. The “backstop” meant to prevent the 5)______ of a hard border in Ireland is a new use for an old word. “Gammon” as a way of 6)______ older red-faced male Brexit 7)______ has the virtue of being 8)______, and the downside of being a 9)______ based on skin colour. “Cakeism” might be the most 10)______. After Boris Johnson, one of Brexit’s 11)______, declared that he was “pro having [cake] and 12)______ eating it”, cakeism has neatly 13)______ up Brexiteers’ refusal to 14)______ trade-offs.

American 15)______ has seen words rapidly 16)______ in their valency after being 17)______ by adherents of one party and then being 18)______ and flipped by the other. In 2016 “19)___   ___” meant news that was fake; Donald Trump 20)______ on that and distorted it to mean true 21)______ he didn’t like. Hillary Clinton ill-advisedly 22)______ to “deplorables” among Mr Trump’s supporters during their presidential 23)______; his fans eagerly 24)______ the name. American conservatives taunt left-wing youth as “snowflakes”, a name they have in turn reappropriated with 25)______ handles like “Iron Snowflake”. Those who 26)______ for Remain in Brexit have done the same with “Remoaner”.

So if there is any good news in the 27)______ of abuse it is that, like so much 28)______ in circulation today, any word popular enough to sum up the 29)______ of a year will saturate 30)___  ___ so quickly that it will soon lose its bite. Or it might be 31)______ appropriated by the very people it was meant to 32)______ – an old phenomenon, but now 33)______ at breakneck speed. Social-media tastemakers prize 34)______, ironic detachment – and 35)______. In other words, if you are 36)______ by the vituperations of 2018, be consoled. Most will 37)______ old in 2019, and be history by 2020.

IX Match the words with their meanings. Use ten words in your sentences.

1.	reappropriate	a)	to take back for one’s own purposes
2.	red-faced	b)	a person who complains about or rejects the outcome of the 2016 EU referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union
3.	deplorable	c)	to turn over quickly
4.	reimposition	d)	disadvantage
5.	novelty	e)	to comfort someone who is sad
6.	prize	f)	the quality of being funny
7.	console	g)	to satisfy fully
8.	detachment	h)	to think before making a decision
9.	tastemaker	i)	large amount of something
10.	seize	j)	to take something quickly and hold it
11.	cakeism	k)	to value highly
12.	Remoaner	l)	a young person who is easily offended
13.	taunt	m)	the quality of being new
14.	coin	n)	someone who support the UK leaving the European Union
15.	consider	o)	the number of noun phrases with which a verb combines
16.	snowflake	p)	language full of hate
17.	flip	q)	follower
18.	cascade	r)	one who sets the standards of what is currently popular
19.	playfulness	s)	to say unkind or insulting things
20.	downside	t)	the act of establishing something again
21.	virtue	u)	false information spread on the Internet usually to influence political opinions
22.	valency	v)	very unpleasant and shocking
23.	vituperation	w)	unkind and disapproving expression
24.	Brexiteer	x)	freedom from prejudice
25.	supporter	y)	having a bright red face because of anger
26.	ill-advisedly	z)	not in a wise manner
27.	figurehead	aa)	a leader with no real power
28.	adherent	bb)	a male, middle-aged White, person with reactionary views who supports Brexit
29.	Gammon	cc)	to invent a new word or expression
30.	sneer	dd)	a giving up of one thing in return for another, part of a compromise
31.	saturate	ee)	person who supports an idea
32.	fake news	ff)	expectation to achieve something unreal, just because you think that you should have it
33.	trade-off	gg)	good quality

X Listen to the recording and mark the sentences as True or False.

1.    All the dictionaries have already chosen their words of the year.

2.    Many words of the year are connected to Brexit.

3.    The “backstop” is a new use for an old word.

4.    The “backstop” means fall in support for Brexit.

5.    “Gammon” as a way of praising young politicians who don’t supporter Brexit.

6.    “Gammon” is an example of creative use of language, but it is a sneer based on skin colour.

7.    “Cakeism” is a word that was coined after a politician said that Brexit was ‘a piece of cake’.

8.    Boris Johnson is the British Prime Minister.

9.    Some Brexiteers refuse to face trade-offs.

10.In American politics only Republicans coin new words.

11.Words can have a new meaning when members of a different party use it.

12.Donald Trump invented the term “fake news”  in 2018.

13.Trump calls the true news he didn’t read “fake news”.

14.Hillary Clinton referred to “deplorables” among her supporters.

15.American conservatives call their middle-aged supporters “snowflakes”.

16.People who voted for Leave the EU are called “Remoaners”.

17.Users of social media appreciate novel and ironic use of language.

18.Most popular words of 2018 might be history by 2020.

 XI OVER TO YOU.

A)   List all the words that the recording mentioned among the words of the year. Explain each of the words. Find examples of these words used in the sentences, for example, in online newspapers or magazine articles. Copy these sentences and explain their meaning in your own words.

B)   One of the words was based on the idiom ‘have your cake and eat it (too)’. How would you explain the meaning of this idiom?

C)   Look at the list of new words from part A of this task. What word formation patterns and mechanisms were used in their formation? Remember the ways used to form neologisms. (Possible mechanisms can include: derivation; back formation; compounding; conversion; borrowing, etc.). Explain word formation pattern for every word or phrase from the list of new words in part A of this task.

D)    Find the information about the word of the year in your native language. Who chooses such words? What was the word of the year 2018 in your native language?