In more news which is telling about the wild times we’re in, ‘vax’ (which doubles up as both a noun and a verb) has been chosen as the Oxford English Dictionary’s (OED) word of the year - in October.
Defined as “vaccine or vaccination” when used as a noun, and “to treat (someone) with a vaccine to produce immunity against a disease; vaccinate” as a verb, this year’s word marks a change from 2020, when the OED team decided that the mess that was last year was “not a year that could neatly be accommodated in one single ‘word of the year’”.
“We have decided to report more expansively on the phenomenal breadth of language change and development over the year,” the OED said at the time.
In this year’s report, the team said that the word “shot up” in usage (pun perhaps not intended) in September, when it was “over 72 times more frequent than the same time last year”.
Fiona McPherson, senior editor at OED, said: “It goes back at least to the 1980s, but according to our corpus it was rarely used until this year.
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“When you add to that its versatility in forming other words - vaxxie, vax-a-thon, vaxinista - it became clear that vax was the standout in the crowd.”
Not to mention the rise of ‘anti-vaxxer’ as a term, too – unfortunately.
As is to be expected – probably – the word choice from the OED has left Twitter users conflicted, while some have wondered why a word of the year has been chosen when we still have two more months of 2021 to get through:
Well this is sad https://t.co/1yYsIBnz3H
— Peter Bell (@pbell19893520) November 1, 2021
Surprise, surprise https://t.co/fgRqo5ghtB
— Shreya Nath (@shreyanath26) November 1, 2021
Thought it’d be trauma. Everyone keeps going on about it.
— Sanjay Roy (@PDArebellion) November 1, 2021
Word of the year ending October 31? Odd timing.
— Marc Schwager (@CavedaleRhones) November 1, 2021
I’m pro vax for getting the vax, but anti vax for word of the year.
— Jon Medi (@JonnyMedi) October 31, 2021
I have scrupulously avoided saying “vax” or “vaxxed” but I guess I’m wronghttps://t.co/9ocaqtXnQU
— Karen McGrane (@karenmcgrane) November 1, 2021
October is too early for end-of-year awards! https://t.co/KBzV6oGw9K
— Mitch Goldich 🐙 (@mitchgoldich) October 31, 2021
Others questioned if this will mean anti-vaxxers will now boycott something as fundamental as the dictionary in protest:
Anti-vaxxers will now boycott dictionaries.#COVID19 #VAXXED #vaccine https://t.co/KZJa0lJDBU
— Glenn Bownes (@nomadglenn) November 1, 2021
Will anti vaxxers protest about this too.
— Ray Bodhisattva (@RayMazen) November 1, 2021
Then there were those who decided to talk about a different kind of Vax entirely…
Bad news for Dyson, Hoover and Henry……….
— Timbo (@nedchester) November 1, 2021
Vax declared Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year https://t.co/4oU7a8bleH
One in the eye for hoover therehttps://t.co/ZbFEt9y709
— Real Gaz on a proper bike #fbpe (@gazza_d) November 1, 2021
Great vacuum cleaner, reliable, can recommend ;)
— King George VIIII™©® 🇬🇧😷💂💩🦠🏆 (@GeorgeThe9th) October 31, 2021
Just bought one. Carpet never cleaner.
— Dave Robinson (@davefrombarrow) October 31, 2021
Although that’s not what this type of ‘vax’ is about, that too would be a fitting word choice for a year which has pretty much sucked.
