And Macquarie Dictionary's 'word' of the year is ...
Macquarie Dictionary has announced its 2019 ‘word’ of the year – cancel culture.
The dictionary describes cancel culture as “the attitudes within a community which call for or bring about the withdrawal of support from a public figure”.
“In a way, it’s an attempt to wipe them out, as a punishment,” says Victoria Morgan, senior editor of Macquarie Dictionary.
“If you're a musician, it could be taking your music off a streaming service or radio station.”
Macquarie’s word of the year committee says cancel culture is “an attitude which is so pervasive that it now has a name. Society’s cancel culture has become, for better or worse, a powerful force.”
It says the term is also known as “callout culture” or “outrage culture”. Sometimes, it involves intense criticism for things celebrities have said or done in the past, such as an offensive tweet.
Honourable mentions went to ngangkari, an Indigenous practitioner of bush medicine; eco-anxiety, feelings of distress and fear brought on by the effects of climate change, and thicc, curvaceous, voluptuous.
You can vote from the following words for the people’s choice word of the year:
Anecdata – information presented as if it were based on systematic research, but which is actually based on personal observation or experience
Cleanskin – someone without any tattoos
Healthwashing – the marketing practice of presenting a food brand or product as being more nutritious or wholesome than it actually is
Robodebt – a debt owed to the government by a welfare recipient, arising from an overpayment of benefits calculated by an automated process, a debt recovery notice being automatically generated and sent to the welfare recipient
Big minutes – a period of time spent by a player on the field, court, etc, during which they maximise their impact, having a substantial effect on the game
Drought lot – a type of sacrifice paddock in which livestock are kept with provisions of water and feed, the confinement allowing the stock to maintain their condition while pasture paddocks can recover more quickly, and erosion damage can be minimised in periods of drought
Hedonometer – an algorithm using language data to analyse levels of happiness, especially data from the social media platform Twitter
Silkpunk – a subgenre of science-fiction which draws on Asian history and culture for setting and aesthetic Cancel culture
Eco-anxiety – feelings of distress and fear brought on by the effects of climate change
Mukbang – a broadcast streamed online in which someone films themselves eating, often a large amount, and speaking to their audience.
Thicc – curvaceous, voluptuous
Cheese slaw – coleslaw to which grated cheese has been added
Flight shaming – criticism or ridicule directed at someone travelling by air because of the carbon emissions produced by such travel
Ngangkari – an Indigenous practitioner of bush medicine
Whataboutism – a technique used in responding to an accusation, criticism or difficult question, in which an opposing accusation or criticism raised
Last year’s winner was ‘me too’ and in 2017 the word of the year was ‘milkshake duck’.
Maybe I'm missing something but isn't that two words?