People stick to conspiracy theories because they don’t want to fall out with their family or group, says an expert.
Jan1: First sight of “Easter eggs are in the shops too early!”
Some Americans think black votes shouldn’t be counted.
Drive-through cafés proliferate.
I’m always fascinated by the emergence of vogue words. Two years ago everyone... had “charisma”. Then last spring, a friend announced she’d been “ripped off” at the Hilton... This summer saw any old foreign tat being glorified as “ethnic”, and everything from collapsing marriages to senescent washing machines described as “terminal”. Now, the word “machismo” is creeping in... being dropped rather gingerly at cocktail parties by people who aren’t sure how to pronounce it. (Jilly Cooper, early 70s)
The vicar wanted to build modern houses in the churchyard... “Gin’s £4.67 a bottle now.” ... I realised what a dictatorship we are becoming – ‘Danger, Keep Out, Penalty for Dogs Fouling the Footpath’... rocketing food prices and prohibitive taxation... all anyone seems to discuss at parties these days is where one could live abroad when this country gets impossible... gradual erosion of privacy... right-wing extremists... everyone’s getting very edgy about Scotland and Wales... Is the tide about to turn, or is there still worse to come? (Jilly Cooper in the early 70s. Plus ça change, plus c'est le meme chose.)
2021 A poll shows that a worrying number of people don’t understand the following political language: Spad (special adviser), sunlit uplands (mirage), Mandarin (civil servant), culture war (woke versus racist), levelling up (impossible), One Nation (surprisingly enlightened Tory idea that we are one nation, rather than nice people like us versus the submerged tenth), tariff (import/export tax), deficit (in the red), level playing field (other things being equal).
“Freight-hopping videos” are a thing. (American freight trains.)
Anyone who talks about “shackles” is a Brexiteer.
Jan 17 Will nothing stop civilians criticising newspaper headlines? The President of the United States incites armed insurrection and supporters storm the Capitol, and people on Twitter complain about the size of the NYT’s headline. Headlines for Pearl Harbour were much bigger, they say. Yes, they had to be seen when the paper was on a stall, or in a newsboy’s hands. Online headlines just need to be searchable.
People insisting on picking the “best” vaccine.
There are meme-manufacturing sites. You can probably buy memes to attract likes, retweets and followers, and raise your profile. That’s when you say “How about contributing to my Patreon?” It's the American idea that you can somehow make money out of thin air.
Don’t pop the bubbles in bubble-wrap – the air inside is contaminated with Covid.
The Cheesy Wotsit (We don't miss him.)
“Banning Trump from social media will only make things worse.” He’s been banned from social media, for good. Are things worse yet? And many of his cabinet have resigned over the failed coup.
“The Trump supporters who broke into the Capitol were just eccentric oddballs – there have been far more destructive protests by left-wingers.”
1 in 4 Brits admit to impulsively buying a dog in lockdown. They are also having plastic surgery because they can recover in secret.
Levelling up is popular – but it seems to mean “better education”.
What happened to: “HDTV is so high fidelity that anyone who appears on it will have to wear spray-on makeup”?
You can get backdrops (actual curtains) for Zoom calls on Amazon.
When did book tokens become “gift cards”?
Women with shaven heads are becoming normal. And some of my old friends have emerged with beautiful white hair and look fabulous.
Doomscrolling
Sea shanties, Wellerman, TikTok 2021-01-15
Salisbury Cathedral is now a vaccination centre.
“Divisive” is the worst thing you can be. Or is that a refusal to be “kind”?
“Radicals” are now extremely right-wing.
Socmed enables users to steal others’ ideas and publish content as their own.
We’re “cowering” at home, according to Quentin Letts in the Times. Boo!
Really, fronted adverbials are so five minutes ago.
“On the right side of history” is popular in Jan. You can’t tell if you are until more history has happened. Though you could force a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Early Twitter was klaxon this and klaxon that. Now the klaxons have fallen silent, no bad thing. (@BrynleyHeaven)
When did chunky become chonky?
Trump supporters are now looking forward to the Second Coming – he’s going to be inaugurated in March! (Joe Biden became President.)
“Flexibility” and “adapt” popular with Brexiteers. (Like "the right side of history", "Get with the programme" is meant.)
You can get Valentine’s Day “meal kits”.
“Educate yourself” means “get in line”. (You have to do it yourself because otherwise it sounds like brainwashing...)
There’s a lockdown baby boom, but worldwide, birth rates are falling.
Puppy and kitten farms are flourishing in lockdown, but 50% of animals are returned.
The EU and the Remoaners have stitched us up proper. (I wondered who they’d blame.)
Snow not snowy enough. (2021-02-07)
“Chains” means “retail chains”. (2021-02-08)
Many jobs are moving to the EU. Exports down 68%.
If you have one of the “foreign” vaccines you’ll be genetically modified. Medics are obliged to tell you that you’re taking part in an experiment. (Both urban legends.)
“Look forward, not back,” say Brexiteers.
It seems increasingly prevalent that harassers keyword search. They look for someone discussing X topic, only so that they can pile on. Humans, eh? (@bogiperson)
Churches offering services from the Book of Common Prayer are seeing unprecedented engagement with hundreds choosing to ‘tune in’ to more traditional offerings. (Churchofengland.org. Few turn up in person, but hundreds join online.)
The people who are going to get vaccinated but think a “vaccine passport” would be a curb on our freedom – will they cave in quite quickly once they find they can’t go to cafés, restaurants etc without a passport?
“Stain” is popular this year.
I hear that “women are awful drivers” is still a joke on the internet.
Whingeing about Tiger Woods’ car accident being on the news.
Some think that “decolonising” the history curriculum means removing stuff. (It means adding stuff.)
Radicalised now means “brainwashed into any unacceptable POV”.
Chilli and cheese hot cross buns spotted (75% off – perhaps everybody loathes them).
“What Harry and Meghan said was all lies – I know because a body language expert says so!” (She confessed she hadn’t watched the interview, just seen clips. She hadn’t read the transcript either.)
“Supposably” is now included in dictionary.com. Cue moaning about irregardless and pacifically.
Cancel culture: right-wing voices being silenced.
Sadly, some of the shops will never reopen: Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Top Shop, Top Man and Burtons. (JP in Cimes shopping centre, Uxbridge)
Has “face contouring” gone out yet?
After Sarah Edwards’ murder, someone digs “chivalry” and “door-opening” out of the trash. And almost immediately, people are talking about “hatpins” and telling “funny” anecdotes about witty put-downs they delivered to flashers.
Vatican says Church can’t bless same-sex unions, and homosexuality is a “sin” and a “choice”. It also says “No, you can’t become a nun – nobody can change their sex.”
We’ve solved the problem! We’ve written an app!
Deep dive (rise from 2003)
Late March: Lots of flags and “if you hate this country feel free to leave this is a democracy”. (Time to revive “flag-wagging”.)
“Delicious” for “delightful” is spreading.
Feminism is now a movement for “equality for all marginalised people”?
In April, foreign workers are leaving Britain at the fastest pace since WWII.
Joe and Jill went up the hill
To start to heal the nation.
Trump went down, that evil clown,
To face incarceration. (Anon)
RIP Prince Philip. Twitter responds with “Swan-eating Greek immigrant.” Also the usual “fawning, cringing and sycophantic”, and “Did they have to cancel Sounds of the Sixties?”
Oddly, “transition” is being used metaphorically for “transfer” or “move”.
Rendition and detention without trial "extremely effective"; tackling white supremacists is "overreach" driven by "political correctness": the views of the man the government has appointed to head its Commission on Countering Extremism revealed in new Private Eye.
hybrid services: religious services partly in person, partly on Zoom
soft regency: not a décor trend, but Prince Charles’s new role
Conservatives still having conniptions when anybody wants to mention British involvement in slavery.
Oh yes there’s racism but not institutional or systemic racism.
End of April: Boris is doomed! Brought down by John Lewis-gate! Betrayed by Judas Cummings! (It ain’t over till it’s over.)
“Done some work to educate myself” and “my truth” are popular.
“Queer” now seems to mean questioning, or gender non-conforming.
People calling Keir “Keith”. Oh, ha, ha.
Vintage now means “sort of bohemian”.
May: Lots of “Boris is British to the core!” and “Only Boris could have got us all vaccinated!”.
Companies instituting “Zoom-free Fridays”.
People who say they voted Remain, even campaigned for it, now saying “Brexit is done. Let’s move forward. I really don’t want to talk about it any more. We’ve got to get on with our lives." Oh, and “It wasn’t about xenophobia”.
“As someone who considers Brexit as a thing of the past and who is engaged with Britain's road ahead in the world, I am finally persuaded that Brexit still remains a factor in UK politics - albeit cultural Brexit as an expression and message of identity.” (The "road ahead" is heavily influenced by Brexit. And what's this "spiritual Brexit"?)
Right-wing anti-vax, anti-masker on Twitter says she’s “doing it for the children”. When people protested, she told them to “Go and prune your bonsai”. Probably part of narrative in which it’s vaccines that kill people, not the virus, and that schoolchildren are being “experimented on” without parental permission.
full-court press: an aggressive basketball tactic in which members of a team cover their opponents throughout the court and not just in the region near their own basket.
Latest internet sensation: newsletters.
This bad boy, these bad boys are back. Please can they go away again?
Loving the current popular opinion is that because Bashir was a cheat and a liar, as were the Tabloids, and, of course, all journalists, that whatever Diana said in the Interview can now be disregarded. I'm still searching for that clip where Bashir holds a gun to her head and forces her to say her husband cheated on her and the rest of the family backed him. (MB)
silvopasture (planting trees in fields)
@MatzoBalling I just saw a thread about “decolonising professionalism” and it listed things like punctuality, deadlines, goal oriented planning, “measurable goals”, writing down notes and decisions, and “logical thinking” as examples of “colonial white supremacy culture”. (But isn’t all that “executive function”? Everybody has read The Emperor Has No Clothes by Tema Okun.)
tenderling: Has it taken over from “woke snowflake”?
“The by women, for women approach is a thing of the past,” says someone on Twitter about women’s refuges. Oh, really?
munch box: takeaway box of deep-fried snacks
content farm: Oh of course they exist, silly me.
Pro-vaxxers just “believe everything the government tells them”.
The Queen is dead, but it’s a secret.
Actors quit Equity over anti-Semitism, women quit Labour Party over self-ID.
Football fans having conniption fits over teams “taking the knee”, and changing channels in disgust.
The Queen, fortunately not dead, meets heads of state and cuts a cake with a sword.
“Porous” seems to have gone out.
Eric Clapton has come out in support of Enoch Powell, and Roger Daltry is a Covid conspiracy theorist.
St Paul's Girls' School changes "head girl" to "head of school" because calling someone a girl is "too binary" and "not inclusive enough". (Have they been got at?, asks someone.)
More here, and links to the rest.
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