This is a lovely old French word that is recorded in English from around 1734.
As you know ‘nonchalant’ (pronounced NON-shuhl-uhnt) means ‘calm and casual’ (Oxford).
And it is very old—in Old French ‘nonchalant’ seems to go back as far as 1265.
In French its original meaning was that something of was no personal interest or no importance.
I draw this to your attention today because according to an article on the website Moneycontrol this has now become a favourite word with Gen Z (roughly those born between 1997 and 2012).
When I read their preference for this nice old French word, I was puzzled.
I thought the vocabulary of the young was shrinking, not growing.
But on the website Gurpreet Singh says that in the modern hectic and pressurized world with its ever-present information overload, the term 'nonchalant' has silently taken on a new meaning.
While the word has existed for centuries, it gained renewed popularity through modern pop culture, social media captions and Gen Z slang usage.
In this modern world, he says, a person who looks calm, relaxed and not bothered by something even in those cases when others can be nervous or excited is described as nonchalant.
I take his point.
However, what he is calling a ‘new meaning’ is not exactly new.
But he goes on to say that it is often used to describe a “cool” attitude which means someone who does not try too hard and stays effortlessly composed.
And that is, perhaps, a slight extension of the original meaning.
So, possibly, this is the time for those of us who are a bit older to celebrate the younger ones discovering a nice, colourful, old word.
Well done Gen Z!
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