Recently on Mammamia.com Emily Vernem and Holly Wainwright have complained (both jointly and individually) about the rise of what they call ‘dawn culture.’
Both are still young, and they complain that people their own age have stopped going out at night (rejecting invitations for drinks or for dinner) because their alarms now go off at the crack of dawn and they are out jogging or swimming by dawn’s early light.
Emily writes, ‘Suddenly, all the people in my life who are roughly my age have decided that being a night owl is tragic, gross and deeply uncool.’
She goes on to complain, ‘It's completely derailed the rhythm of friendship. Gone are the spontaneous late-night walks, the deep 9pm debriefs, the joy of being messy after dark. Everything is now structured around a timetable that is clearly designed for people who run on sunlight and kale.’
And Holly Wainwright asks, ‘What time does your alarm go off in the morning?... For many, many, many people, that number is getting earlier, and earlier, thanks to something called Dawn Culture.’
That phrase ‘dawn culture’ is a new one and is not yet in any of the major dictionaries.
It’s not even in the online, hyper-hip Urban Dictionary.
So, this, folks, is at the cutting edge of language.
If Emily and Holly’s phrase catches on it may become the freshest new thing, and by the end of the year might be up for a trendy Word of the Year award (which, as you know, can go to a phrase as well as a word).
As for the complaint it names—well, I have some bad news for these youngsters: your friends are behaving like old people.
Or, at least, like people much older than yourselves.
As we age our body clock seems to change and we wake earlier and earlier.
We just adjust to the new timetable our bodies set for us.
We are up early having our first coffee of the day.
We breakfast earlier.
We do our chores earlier.
And it seems to suit us just fine.
At the end of the day, we are happy to tumble into bed at 9:30 and be sound asleep by 10pm—ready to wake after seven hours sleep, to be up and at ‘em at five the next morning.
We invented the ‘dawn culture!
So, Emily and Holly—welcome to Old World!
TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER SCROLL FURTHER DOWN THIS PAGE >>>>>>
BOOKS:
* My latest book is Sherlock Holmes: 5-Minute Mysteries -- containing 50 new stories I have written about the great detective. You can find it on Amazon. Just go to Amazon and type in Sherlock Holmes: 5-Minute Mysteries in the search panel. Or use this link: h Amazon.com.au : Sherlock Holmes 5-Minute Mysteries Kel Richards
* My book "Defending the Gospel" is now in a second, fully revised, edition. You can find it here: Defending the Gospel – matthiasmedia.com.au
* If you're looking for my recent book "Flash Jim" you'll find it here -- Flash Jim, The astonis
hing story of the convict fraudster who wrote Australia's first dictionary by Kel Richards | 9781460759769 | Booktopia
* You can find all Kel's books currently in print here -- Booktopia Search Results for 'kel richards'. We sell books, hardback, paperback, audio, CDs.
* And also here -- Amazon.com.au : Kel Richards
* And you'll find more here -- Search: 4 results found for "Kel Richards" – matthiasmedia.com.au
* Many of Kel's out of print books can be found at ABE Books -- Kel Richards - AbeBooks explaining words explain the term
BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
The liveliest part of this website is usually the Q and A page -- be sure to check it out from time to time.
