Publishers Oxford University Press says it has not been able to choose a single word of the year for 2020.
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The producers of the most comprehensive reference dictionary of the English language said this in a statement on Monday.
“Every year, the Oxford Word of the Year uses evidence of usage to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the past twelve months in a word or expression.
“But in 2020, just like our daily lives, the English language has undergone enormous change, adapting rapidly and repeatedly to world events.’’
Oxford has instead published a new language report, dubbed “Words of an Unprecedented Year.’’
The list follows the historical developments of the year, starting with the “bush fires” that ravaged Australia, then “impeachment” and “acquittal” rose in use as U.S. President Donald Trump faced a legal challenge in Congress.
The “coronavirus” pandemic provided many words included in the report: “lockdown,” “circuit breaker,” “shelter-in-place,” “remotely” and “unmute,” among many others.
In the summer “Black Lives Matter” and its abbreviated form BLM rose in frequency, while the conspiracy theory “QAnon” and U.S. election “mail-in” ballots are more recent additions to the list.
Conversely, the term “Brexit” has seen an 80-per-cent reduction in usage in 2020, the language specialists said.
Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages said “I’ve never witnessed a year in a language like the one we’ve just had.
“The team at Oxford were identifying hundreds of significant new words and usages as the year unfolded, dozens of which would have been a slam dunk for Word of the Year at any other time.’’
(dpa/NAN)
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