Australia’s own Macquarie Dictionary has a short list of 16 words vying for the ‘People’s Choice’ award for the Word of the Year 2024. We looked at half of them yesterday, here’s the rest of the list—together with their explanations (and my comments in brackets):
Q-day a theoretical point in time at which quantum computers will become large-scale enough to enable the decryption of public key encryption algorithms (Does this really matter to anyone except nerds hunched over computers in the backroom eating donuts?)
Rawdogging the act of undertaking a long-haul flight with no electronic entertainment, devices or reading material (Is anyone ever this silly? Or perhaps they’re relying on the in-flight entertainment? Good luck with that!)
Rent bidding the practice of a prospective renter offering a real estate agent or landlord a higher price than that advertised in the hope that their rental application will be accepted over others. (Well, housing crisis—remember?)
Right to disconnect a law which grants employees the right to not work or be contacted about work during non-work hours. (At least this one has been in the news—which is more than I can say for most of the others on this list!)
Sigma a person who is well regarded as being exceptional in some way, especially a male. adjective 2. attractive; excellent: sigma wheels. Modelled on ‘alpha male’, with ‘sigma’ used to represent someone with attributes similar to the alpha male but who presents their attributes in a different way. (‘Alpha’ is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, Sigma is the 18th—out of 24. Why randomly pick the 18th letter? Weird.)
Skibidi interjection—a nonsense word used to mean any of various things depending on context, but often ‘cool’ or ‘excellent’. (I remember Fatima Payman using this word in the senate in order, I presume, to try to sound cool. But it’s a nonsense word! So why bother with it? You might as well say ‘brillig’ or ‘slithy tove’!)
Social battery supposed energy reserve someone has for engaging in social interactions (This is what? Powering up when other people are around?)
Spoon bowl a match between the two lowest teams in a competition to determine which finishes the season at the bottom of the table. (It the Americanness that annoys me. The yanks have their Rose Bowl and their Super Bowl—but that’s not how Aussies talk about big sporting contests!)
There you are—all 16 words on the short list. Are you impressed? Or do most of them look to you like the kind of trendy words that have the life span of a fruit fly? If you’d like to cast a vote, here’s the link: Vote now for the Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year 2024
Tonight I will join John Stanley for 'The Word Clinic' on 2GB, 4BC, 2CC and the Nine Radio Network -- right after the 10pm news (pm in Queensland).
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And here's my latest column for Sky News -- on how to fix the ABC: My solution to fix the ABC’s ‘middle class welfare’ culture entails a carve up of radio stations, privatising television network | Sky News Australia
The latest issue of Australian Geographic is out now (with the humpback whale on the cover) -- inside are my two small columns on 'Placenames' (looking at 'Pukatja/Ernabella') and 'Ozwords' (this time about 'selfie').
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
I have just taken part in Jenny Wheeler's podcast "The Joys of Binge Reading." You can listen to the conversation here:
https://thejoysofbingereading.com/kel-richards-country-house-mysteries/
I have signed the anti-Semitism pledge, and I encourage you to do the same. You can sign the letter here: www.saynotoantisemitism.org
The liveliest part of this website is usually the Q and A page -- be sure to check it out from time to time.
BOOKS:
* My latest book is -- "Defending the Gospel" (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.
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