Oxford words and phrases of the year

@ArishMell yes, but you are trying to disect socially evolved words from a root based methodology , when they are socially derived .

Are you going to claim that 'google' is an incorrect term because it's a bastard spelling of 'googol' which was made up by a child and had little to do with it's original definition?

I can't say enough - that language is organic, no matter how much structure it is given, and how many grammatical rules it has....it evolves along with us.

You're denying words just because you don't understand them or feel they have no reasoned structure or form.
But that doesn't mean they don't get used by thousands upon thousands of people who do .

These words are real, they are being used with meaning ....so much so they have officially been accepted as new words of the English language.

I get your passion for language, and it's traditional view point .
And if your want to continue to deny their official recognized validity , I can't stop you .🤷

I just prefer to look them up and learn what they mean.
Like 'deinfluencer' is an influencer who tests products and makes a point of discouraging people from using brands or products they have found to be ineffective, wasteful or bad in some way .
So , in a way, the name makes sense, even if it doesnt follow traditional grammatical rules .

...Which isn't a new concept to the English language 🙄....we have so many 'exceptions to the rule ' already .😏

@OogieBoogie I have a passion for language too - always my best academic strength.

Hence I don't deny new words for new things (like "googling") but do not particularly like mangling perfectly good words into clumsy versions of themselves, of the same meaning.

Nor do I like jargon - I saw enough of that at work, but I differentiate between jargon and genuine technical terms. E.g.:

"We have identified a requirement for new 4-colour laser-jet printers, going forward."

Just write:

"We will need new 4-colour laser-jet printers."

The jargon has gone, the technical terms remain. I recall a management presentation at which the so-called "Human Resources" (i.e. "Personnel") director used "going forward" so often I stopped listening and mentally planned my forthcoming weekend instead.

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As far as examining products is concerned, what's wrong with "reviewer"? Perfectly good word, and it implies fair product testing - though I would also expect that to be clear. "De-influencer" as you explain makes me suspect the "influencer" is paid just to disparage it, by a rival manufacturer. Though of course, we'd need more than just one glowing advertisement or attack to gain a fair view of any reviewer's fairness!

I'm probably the sort of "consumer" whom advertisers do not like. (More jargon - I do not "consume" The News on the radio, for example. I listen to it. While I have tried consuming portable telephones* but found them indigestible!)

If I read or hear a bright and bouncy advertisement, I think what has [i]not[/i] been said. If it contains some supposed statistic I doubt it immediately; especially a percentage (% of [i]what?[/i]). While clumsy slogans like "It Just Got Better" (a hanging comparison) deter me immediately - that one was real, as I recall by British Gas or BT some years ago.


If Microsoft etc. claim it is "up-grading" my software I ask, "upgrading" (= "improving" or "strengthening"); or does it mean simply "up-dating" (often = changing it without necessarily improving it for the user)?

Especially after the Seattle company "up-graded" my WIN-10 installation to WIN-11 without my permission, and totally wrecked my carefully-built photographs archive in the process. It took hours to rebuild it, and it's still not right. I think MS wants all our data on its "cloud" (just say "the Internet")... I wonder why?

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Perhaps I should have studied law and become a barrister. That trade works on words, examining what is said and what is not said!

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*portable telephones. The American term "cell phone" abbreviates "cellular telephone", referring to the radio-telephony network's operating principle. The British adjective "mobile", applied by the advertisers and it stuck, is just nonsense! Well, I have yet to see such an instrument with a motor and wheels!

@ArishMell ah , but a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.

Names of things arent always logical or retain their logic . Take dumbbells for example - they aren't what they once were, but they retain the name despite being nothing akin to a 'dumb bell'🤷

I agree language gets bastardized and bureaucrats and managers can make an abortion of it, (like you, I go to meetings and get statements that are so badly written I could have done better when I was 10🙄).

But culture is culture. It moves and flows with a life of its own . It is born of inspiration and creativity and is grown by favorability and trend.

And just as the language fashions and trends that came with music , drugs, war and even art have influenced our language over the years, so does media culture today .

Pop culture will [b]always [/b] have a massive influence over our language.

You can't stop the wind from blowing dude 🤷

@sunriselover My English is falling behind I think. Whenever I visit the UK I find myself having to ask my sister to explain some new word.

@ninalanyon A lot of the slang is probably from the USA.....

@sunriselover Did they? I daresay some may have done that! Many others reported using the opportunity to constructive advantage.