Corona Daily 366: Coronaspeak: part I

In April, in the middle of a strict lockdown, my 16 year old announced she was going to have an eep-over.

‘What are you talking about, we are in a lockdown.’ I said as a concerned father of a teenager. ‘No question of your spending the night with your friends.’

‘Not sleepover, dad, eep-over. We are going to watch movies together, chat and eat, all in our respective homes. (Apparently Netflix now offers this option).

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The other day, at my local park, a friend asked me a fairly routine question: how are you?

‘I am negative, thank you.’ I smiled.

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The coronavirus pandemic is affecting language in several ways. New words are created, and old ones are acquiring new meanings. We effortlessly use words we had never used before 2020. Did you ever say ‘herd immunity’ before? Or comorbidities? Or express regret that the curve was not flattening?

We are social animals, but now socially distanced. That may not stop us from going into quarantine or self-isolation. We are living in uncertain times, as well as unprecedented times. That’s the new normal, if you like. Contact tracing is actually a profession. Hospital staff has become frontline workers. Even those without any medical education are using terms like PPE, R-0, ventilation, intubation, antigen and pathogen. Americans shelter in place, because the rest of the world stays at home. When criticizing China, people talk about zoonotic diseases, a word even spell-check doesn’t know.

Those who WFH have new routine lines: ‘you’re on mute’, ‘I’m just going to dial back’, ‘I’m having issues with my wifi’. Many have developed zoom fatigue.

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Coronaverse is the world that we now live in, and quarantimes the period. Some people recommend B.C. to be deciphered as ‘Before Corona’ - the hugging, kissing, drinking, pubbing, travelling era. Time is now split as pre-rona and post-rona. Post-rona is that glorious dream, in the undetermined future, where our life goes back to the old normal. The virus has been personified by some as Miss Rona to make it a playful character.

Coronapocalypse is the endgame of the pessimists, who suffer from very high viral anxiety. Infodemic is made of dodgy news, doomscrollers are the consumers. Covid-19 has another meaning. It is the 19 extra pounds you have gained during lockdown.

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Zumping is ending a relationship in a Zoom call. This is far more convenient than dumping face-to-face. If the emotions of the Zumped person become intolerable, one can simply switch off.

‘Elephant in the Zoom’ is a nice British expression. It is the person in the Zoom meeting everyone tries to avoid.

Time difference or lock down fatigue may make some participants Zoombies.

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Australians are the masters of diminutives. They have invented pando (pandemic), iso (isolation) and sanny (hand sanitiser). Sanny sounds fresh and clean. Iso gives other words like isobar, which is a fridge well stocked with booze to get you through the pandemic. Isodesk is that workplace where you wear a nice shirt and tie in the upper half, pyjama and slippers in the bottom half. The dress code is called basement casual or zoomdressing.

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A book can be written on the way coronavirus is bringing new words and expressions in our languages. I will, however, restrict myself to a couple of articles to offer a flavor and also give important links if you wish to contribute to coronaspeak.  More tomorrow.

Ravi