English belongs to everybody and nobody. It might be the language you converse, the one you’re studying now, however it’s not yours. Not solely. Which will appear apparent, but it’s usually laborious to simply accept. In any case, you’ve labored laborious to grasp it. At college you recited its guidelines, however don’t think about you maintain the facility of veto.
Harsh, but that’s how I felt like replying to the flood of latest emails, most lamenting the crowning of “cozzie livs”, the Macquarie Dictionary’s Phrase of the Yr. Cozzie livs – brief for the price of residing – appeared the final straw for a lot of, as if the barbarians had seized the citadel.
Cozzie livs or cozzie dies? The Macquarie’s alternative for Phrase of the Yr has proved contentious.Credit score: iStock
Curmudgeon, one chatroom avatar, embodied the bigger of two camps, saying, “What an appalling assertion on present tendencies in English if such a cringeworthy time period may even be thought-about as phrase of the yr. If that’s the zeitgeist, and one thing as horrendous as delulu [deluded] may even exist, not to mention be in consideration, then my phrase of the yr is ‘harrumph’.”
Don’t get me mistaken. I really like Curmudgeon’s zeal for English, which I share. This column has been fuelled on it. Likewise, I can facet with Curmudgeon’s exasperation, since at occasions I want teenagers would shed their like-twitch, or politicians cease saying “shifting ahead”, or TV reporters depart “now” at dwelling, but the discourse hurtles forward regardless of my sofa gripes, this weekly soapbox shtick.
Since language is alluvial – we all know that. Its databanks shift with generational tides. Goodbye rad; whats up slay. Memes and headlines, trend and disaster – every brings their linguistic affect to bear. Ooroo booyah; g’day cozzie livs. For a language to stay, it should flex. For English to be every thing we want, the flux have to be fixed.
None of which calls for your approval, however it’s why a TikTok-boosted catchcry persuaded the Macquarie panel this yr. Higher nonetheless, the expression provides a level of downplayed humour to a grim fiscal squeeze, a humour by which Australians have all the time excelled.
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Our dictionary teems with historic examples, from ANZAC humour (the place “pickled monkey” and “potted canine” labelled the ration tins) to the darkish wit of “shark biscuit” (physique surfer), the helpful oxymoron of “yeah-nah”, the downsized menu of “parmi”, “smashed avo” and a “ballsy cab sav”. Think about the outcry of your ancestors when every of those heresies discovered traction of their day. The harrumphing!
Bringing us again to the web feedback, as I urged the responses fell into two camps. Stirring the possum for Gen Z, Tom stated, “If a few of these phrases are new to you, I’ve obtained a chilly laborious reality: get used to it. It’s Gen Z and Millennials who’ve influenced many of those [listed] phrases. So buckle up cos we ain’t completed!”