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With a number of international locations dealing with life in a pandemic, it’s no shock that lexiconographers at two of the world’s main establishments have picked COVID-related phrases to sum up 2020.
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Final week, Britain’s Collins English Dictionary named “lockdown” as its phrase of the 12 months.
In keeping with Collins, the phrase registered over 1 / 4 of one million usages in 2020, in comparison with solely 4,000 the earlier 12 months.
“With many international locations coming into a second lockdown, it’s not a phrase of the 12 months to have fun however it’s, maybe, one which sums up the 12 months for many of the world,” Collins language content material advisor Helen Newstead informed The Guardian.
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The Collins shortlist included pandemic-related phrases resembling “coronavirus,” “key employee,” “furlough” and “social distancing.”
On Tuesday, the Australian Nationwide Dictionary Centre introduced “iso,” an Aussie abbreviation for “self-isolation,” because the nation’s phrase of the 12 months.
“Our fondness for abbreviating phrases in Australia, and a pure human inclination to make the unknown and scary acquainted, shortly noticed the descriptive time period ‘self-isolation’ shortened to iso in March this 12 months,” stated Mark Gwynn, the Australian Nationwide Dictionary Centre’s senior researcher.
The phrase is “linguistically productive” when mixed with different phrases resembling iso baking and iso minimize, Gwynn stated.
The opposite coronavirus-related phrases that made the shortlist had been “bubble” and “covid-normal.”