The Word of the Year Is Always Interesting. This Year’s Is Single Use – It Shows Awareness!
Every year the main dictionaries come up with their “word of the year” – one word or phrase that epitomises the past year, and whose usage has increased hugely. I always enjoy seeing each choice – and I thought this year’s one word from Collins was particularly apt – single use!
Collins chose “single use” as their Word of the Year because it’s seen a massive increase in usage.
And that’s because in 2018 we’ve been bombarded with images of plastic floating in the most distant oceans. These straws, bottles and bags have led to a global campaign to reduce their use. People are now more aware than ever of the problems of single use plastics, and single use disposables.
The dictionary defines single-use as “made to be used once only”, saying we’ve got so much single use plastic now that it’s damaging the environment and affecting the food chain.
Personally, I’m delighted that single use is a phrase that’s being used a lot. It shows more people are more aware of the harm we’re doing with our “convenience” culture.
Now of course, Collins looks at words used in Britain. So the Merriam-Webster’s word of the year will be different – their 2018 word is not yet released, as I write this.
See what else is new, below.
New Words That Weren’t Word of the Year
It’s wonderful how the language changes and adapts. For example, here are some new words picked in 2018 that Collins is now including in its famous dictionary:
- Plogging, a Scandinavian craze in which joggers also pick up litter
- Floss, the victory dance performed in the video game Fortnite.
- Gaslight – trying to manipulate someone by continually giving them false information until they doubt their sanity
- And according to Collins, MeToo is now more than a social media hashtag, it’s a movement that seeks to stop predatory sexual behaviour.
All of these words have become increasingly commonly-used in the last year.
Previous Winners of “Word of the Year”
In 2017, Collin’s word of the year was “fake news”, and in 2016 it reflected Britain’s obsession with Brexit.
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What do you think of this year’s word of the year? Let me know in the comments below.
Warm regards,
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