VAX is the Word of the Year: Oxford University
Following all campaigns to get the world vaccinated against the COVID 19, it is perhaps no surprise that Oxford University Press has announced that the 2021 Word of the Year is: VAX!
The word vax, more than any other, has injected itself into the bloodstream of the English language in 2021. That’s why it’s our word of the year. But research has also revealed that a plethora of other vaccine-related words received a healthy shot in the arm alongside it, Oxford Languages says in its Report into the language of vaccines.
To get to the lexicographical heart of a subject that has pervaded all our lives this year, the 2021 report explores not only the word of the year but the wider language of vaccines in English and in nine other languages, from Bangla to Portuguese, Arabic to Mandarin, Oxford said.
ENJOYING VAX(I)CATION
“Vax is now used in a wide range of contexts, from vax cards to fully-vaxxed, to the freshly coined vax(i)cation (a post-vaccination getaway). Significantly older, but also seeing a sharp increase in recent usage, is anti-vax (short for anti-vaccinist), and anti-vaxxer.”
Other interesting vax/words are vax-a-thon (first used to refer to a mass vaccination event in Philadelphia in January 21 and vaxxie (a selfie taken during or immediately after vaccination.
“When reviewing the language evidence, vax stood out as an obvious choice. The word’s dramatic spike in usage caught our attention first. Then we ran the analysis and a story started to emerge, revealing how vax sat at the centre of our preoccupations this year” Casper Grathwohl, President, Oxford Languages, says in a press release.
DATING APPS
“The evidence was everywhere, from dating apps (vax 4 vax) and pent-up frustrations (hot vax summer) to academic calendars (vaxx to school) and bureaucratic operations (vax pass). In monopolizing our discourse, it’s clear the language of vaccines is changing how we talk—and think—about public health, community, and ourselves.”
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