New words and old words, by Josep Maria Fonalleras

This is the eighth edition of the call that, in 2014, was launched by the UPF Neology Observatory and the Institute of Catalan Studies to solemnly proclaim the neologism of the year, the word that somehow identifies a specific time. Is right Judit Freixa, one of the coordinators of the study / popular vote, when affirming that these words that have invaded us, that have been imposed throughout the days, “tell us what interests us, what happens to us, what worries us or what we are excited & rdquor ;. A conceptual portrait of the moment, a sign of the times, a reduction to the minimum expression of the landscape in which we live. This year has won ‘denial’, which is a way of confirming that we have had to share scientific faith with conspiracy irrationality. Since 2014, ‘estelada’, ‘drone’, ‘vegà’, ‘cassolada’, ‘sororitat’, ‘climatic emergency’, ‘animalista’ and, of course, in 2020, ‘coronavirus’ have triumphed. Symbols, inventions, trends, political demands, fears that have marked our world. It is still a game but it tells us how we are, it portrays us as a society. There are also old words that do it. Bewilderment, for example, or fragility.

Reference-www.elperiodico.com

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