Buzz words reveal changing social trends in Australian society

If you been dissed as a ‘cheugy’ or ‘wokescolded’ by the enlightened, best get yourself across the stack of new words being tracked by the Macquarie Dictionary.

HAVE you been the victim of “phubbing”?

It’s when you’ve been snubbed by someone playing on their mobile phone instead of listening to you.

It’s in contention to be included in the next edition of the Macquarie Dictionary – one of a stack of new words being tracked that reveal trends in Australian society.

New words being considered for the Macquarie Dictionary include ‘phubbing’ where people play on their mobile phone and ignore their companions.

The dictionary editors have also picked up on words reflecting political correctness and identity politics — such as “wokescold”.

“To wokescold is to criticise someone for not having views that are left-leaning or ‘woke’ enough,” the editors report.

And have you used the word “neopronoun”?

This is an “invented pronoun for a third or non-binary gender to male and female”.

Senior editor Victoria Morgan says the gender neutral term is on track to possibly make the next official list of dictionary words.

She also flags the edgy word “cheugy”, meaning following out of date trends. A person doing this is a “cheug”.

“Cheugy certainly has got momentum, initially it was by Gen Z but because everyone else is using it now, cheugy itself has become cheugy,” she says.

“The general public can submit a new word if they like at our website and we look at every one of them.

“They go on our watch list and we see if they have general enough currency in the wild. Some words just die away. It’s constantly changing.”

If you’re not a cheugy you could be a “teenior” – a senior citizen acting like a stereotypical teenager.

Ms Morgan also said the word “phubbing” was interesting because “everyone’s doing it” on their phones now.

Victoria Morgan, senior editor, Macquarie Dictionary.

But it had actually originated from an experiment some years ago by a team involved with the Macquarie Dictionary in Australia.

“We’ve been watching the word for about eight years now,” Ms Morgan said. “It hasn’t picked up in Australia but has been by the Oxford Dictionary in Britain.”

Wordsmith Kel Richards, author of a new book about Australia’s first dictionary Flash Jim, said he’d been part of the team who invented phubbing.

He said many new words were often quite clever but end up with a short life span.

“I’m delighted to see “wokescold” make the list because social media is full of them, and we need a put-down label for them,” he said.

Radio presenter and author and language expert Kel Richards.

“The same with ‘neopronoun’ — a useful word for a current obsession.

“But will they have a longer life than a fruit fly?

“You only have to look at some of the Macquarie Dictionary’s own “Words of the Year” from the recent past to see how quickly these words come and go.

Language expert Kel Richards’ new book Flash Jim, about Australia’s first dictionary.

Macquarie Dictionary: anyone can submit a new word at their website.

“One of their short-listed words last year was ‘rona’ as an abbreviation for ‘coronavirus’.

And if you were wondering about that trendy word “boo”, used to describe NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s new boyfriend, it’s been in the dictionary since 2012.

“It’s now mainstream,” Ms Morgan said. “It was originally from Black English meaning ‘a child’ but moved in the 1990s to mean sweetheart and is probably a play on beau.”

Originally published as Buzz words reveal changing social trends in Australian society