Vaxxident is a portmanteau of the words vaccine and accident. Variations of the word are: vaxident, vacident and vaccident. The definition refers to a medical incident where someone is performing an activity, usually driving, and has an accident due to a sudden side effect caused by one of the Covid-19 vaccines. The outcome can be devastating. These events really do happen as everyone’s physiology is unique and there’s no way of knowing in advance how someone will respond to the potential side effects of vaccination.
The Urban Dictionary defines Vaxxident as:
Post-vaccine automobile accident on roadways, caused by mini-strokes and blood clots in the brain. People are driving off the roads and striking trees — veering into other cars for head-on collisions — and apparently losing cognitive function while behind the wheel.
The term appears in the November 2, 2021 issue of the Washington Post which says: “The British company that publishes the Oxford English Dictionary has named “vax” as 2021’s word of the year…A host of “vaccination” variations have appeared during the pandemic [and] the politicization of vaccination and the pandemic has spawned terms such as “vaxxident,” a traffic accident that results from the alleged side effects of getting vaccinated against the coronavirus” (Jeong).
Social Media Trends as of August 1, 2023
The links used below reflect the different variations of spelling. There were no YouTube tags for any variation of vaxxident.
Facebook #vaxxident: people are posting about this Instagram #vaxident: 39 posts TikTok #vaccidents: 2.6 million views
Google Trends: I used the time frame from Jan 1, 2021 to the present for the trends anaylsis as the first Covid vaccines were administered in Dec 2020. Vaccident appeared in January 2021 and went through a series of peaks and troughs throughout to 2023.
One of the last holdouts from the pandemic era is about to end. Student loans were put on hold for more than three years and interest rates were reduced to 0%. As part of the debt ceiling agreement signed by President Joe Biden in June 2023, student loan payments will resume at the end of August. According to the U.S. Department of Education, “student loan interest will resume starting on Sept. 1, 2023, and payments will be due starting in October” (Federal Student Aid). This is separate from President Biden’s student loan forgiveness which is on hold pending a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court later this month.
A brief history of the federal student loan pause during the pandemic era is as follows: On March 13, 2020 President Trump announced that interest would be eliminated on all federal student loans. The following week, the US Department of Education announced student loan interest would be suspended for three months and payments suspended for two months. On March 27, 2020 President Trump signed the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) suspending federal student loans through September 30, 2020.
President Trump extended the payment pause two more times during his last year in office. When President Biden took office in January 2021, he extended the pause several times; the last pause was announced on April 6, 2022 which extended student loan relief measures through August 31 that year (Custer, Bradley D and Azoulay, Ella). Visit here for more details on the student payment pause timeline.
Below is a CNBC segment from 2020 where President Trump announces executive action that pauses interest on all federal student loans until further notice.
When the U.S. Supreme Court took up the student loan forgiveness case, President Biden extended the pause until 60 days after the Court made its decision or June 30, 2023, whichever comes first.
I'm confident that our student debt relief plan is legal. But it’s on hold because Republican officials want to block it.
That's why @SecCardona is extending the payment pause to no later than June 30, 2023, giving the Supreme Court time to hear the case in its current term. pic.twitter.com/873CurlHFZ
Now that the pause on student loans is ending this summer, it’s time to start thinking about how you will pay them. ABCNews published an article on June 16, 2023 offering some tips:
First, locate your student loan servicer, since the company that manages your student loans may have changed over the past three years. You can find your loan servicer by logging on to studentaid.gov.
Next, make sure your loan servicer has accurate and up-to-date contact information. Repayment start dates will differ depending on who manages your loan, so be sure to ask when payments will resume and how much you’ll owe each month, once they do…
Several federal plans base your payments on your income and family size. Income-driven repayment plans, such as Pay As You Earn and Revised Pay As You Earn, can make your payments more manageable and, in some cases, could push your payment as low as $0 per month. If you can’t keep up with payments, ask your lender about a deferment or forbearance period.
Google Trends: “student loan pause” first appeared in January 2021 despite executive action pausing interest and payment of student loans in March 2020. There are many different ways of phrasing “student loan pause” but this is the one I used for this blog. The popularity of the phrase spiked in December 2021, April 2022 and peaked in August 2022. There is every reason to believe it will peak this summer as 45 million students will have to make room in their budget for student loan payments.
Walktail is a combination of “walk” and “cocktail” and it means to go for a walk while drinking a cocktail. It’s not a new word but it became popular during the early days of the pandemic. It appeared in Cambridge Dictionary’s blog as a possible new word for August 2020.
Walktail: a cocktail that you drink while you walk
For those on a budget, the walktail can just as easily be made at home. Kummer also added that it offers an additional outlet for of-age adults to socialize while maintaining a safe distance. “It’s another way of meeting your neighbors, keeping social distance, and having a drink,” he said.
On June 25, 2020 an article entitled “The Best New Words Invented in the COVID-19 Era” was published on the Dandelion Chandelier website and gave the following definition for Walktail:
What was once considered against the law is now the hot new social event. Especially popular amongst suburban moms, it is the act of going for a walk while drinking alcohol from an open container.
Murphy
Most bars were closed during lockdown and indoor and outdoor gatherings were discouraged but some restaurants and bars offered drinks to go for pickup. The canned cocktail became popular during the pandemic since they “they’re easily transportable, naturally portion controlled, require no extra ingredients or bottle opener to enjoy” (Dickinson). The best thing about canned cocktails is they have a longer shelf life. A word of caution though – canned cocktails are illegal in some parts of the United States and they may not be available everywhere.
Mike Seeler, editor for the New York Times, acknowledged that “with both bars and gyms closed, such drinking and walking – or “walktailing” – has been occurring at a seemingly unprecedented rate.” He relates the experience of Pam LeBlanc who found her own unique way of walktailing:
Earlier this month, as the state of Texas was about to ease its stay-at-home restrictions, Pam LeBlanc pulled her wedding dress out of a vacuum-sealed box, put it on for the first time in 21 years, poured herself a glass of prosecco, strapped on some heels, walked out of her house in Austin, and began twirling in the middle of the street.
She’d been doing some version of this for about 40 days, a period during which she and most Americans were unable to hunker down at their favorite watering hole and let a professional bartender pour them a drink.
“I decided that every day we were going to shelter in place, I was going to put on some kind of dress and go out in the street with a cocktail,” said Ms. LeBlanc, 56, an outdoorsy freelance journalist not normally given to swanky garb. “It was my way of flipping off the coronavirus.”
Seeler
During the pandemic some restaurants, such as Grand Rapids Eastern Kille Distillery, offered cocktail kits for pickup so you could enjoy a walktail made with fresh ingredients.
courtesy of playful_comics
Social Media Trends as of June 2, 2023
Surprisingly, walktail does not appear much on social media sites although it does appear in news articles.
Google Trends: walktail predates the pandemic and first appeared in 2005. The popularity of the term peaked
During the early days of the pandemic, many people worked remotely but that social connection of going out with your coworkers on a Friday evening had disappeared. Lockdown, social distancing and social bubbles made it impossible to hang out with friends, family and coworkers – hence the arrival of the virtual happy hour using social media platforms such as Zoom and Google Hangouts.
Virtual happy hours fostered that togetherness and improved communication. It was a time to catch up on each other’s personal lives and share experiences. Even though the pandemic is behind us, virtual happy hours are still popular.
Though not a replacement for real life meetups, the virtual happy hour became rapidly popular during a challenging time in our history. Technology made the impossible, well, possible, despite the technical glitches, the infamous mute button and jerky images caused by low bandwidth.
An article published for Food and Wine magazine said the “virtual cocktail hour is really about finding a way to connect with friends and family in a time when your usual avenues of connection are cut off” (Isle). The author offers eight helpful tips on hosting your own happy hour:
If you’re going to theme your event, make it broad. It’s hard for people, especially in places like California and New York right now, to shop, plus stores have limited selection. So, with wine, pick a popular varietal — Cabernet, Pinot Noir — rather than a specific winery or obscure region.
For cocktails, email everyone a recipe in advance.
If you are going to play music in the background, have the host choose it and play it, otherwise you get that jarring nine-songs-going-on-at-the-same-time effect. Or collaborate on a playlist in advance.
Choose the grid option on the software, so you can all see each other at the same time
Start off talking about something other than Coronavirus. This is supposed to be fun, not bleak. Plus, you’ll probably end up talking about it anyway.
Set a time frame. An hour is good.
Don’t share your meeting link on social media or public forums, because then anyone can join in. There have been reports of trolls crashing zoom meetups (particularly big public ones) and broadcasting awful porn to everyone. Not good!
Come up with a plan to occupy the kids during your happy hour time, if you have kids. If it’s a group of parents who are meeting, you can even set up a separate virtual event for the kids (if they’re old enough). In another room, of course, and if you have a spare phone/computer/whatever.
Ray Isle
Three years ago, the Inside Edition published a short video on helpful ways to host the best virtual happy hour. You can watch the video here.
At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Congress passes the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. This required all states to keep people continuously covered by their Medicaid programs until the Public Health Emergency ended. During this time, Medicaid coverage enrollment went up significantly by 21 million to 92 million enrollees.
States will have up to a year to revert back to normal rules regarding Medicaid eligibility and enrollment. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website describes what happens next and what this means for those enrolled in Medicaid and/or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP):
When continuous enrollment provision ends, millions of people could lose coverage that could reverse recent gains in coverage. As part of an end-of-the-year spending bill, Congress signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) on December 29, 2022, that set an end to the continuous enrollment provision on March 31, 2023, and separates the continuous coverage provision from the COVID-19 public health emergency…States that accept the enhanced federal funding can resume disenrollments beginning in April but must meet certain reporting and other requirements during the unwinding process.
In an effort to minimize the number of people that lose Medicaid or CHIP coverage, CMS is working with states and other stakeholders to inform people about renewing their coverage and exploring other available health insurance options if they no longer qualify for Medicaid or CHIP.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
The Wise Money Show ran a segment on the Medicaid unwinding process here:
If you or your family are enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP, keep a look out for a renewal packet from your state. Be sure to follow the directions provided and respond in a timely fashion to avoid an interruption in your coverage. If you’ve received notification that you’re no longer eligible to participate in Medicaid/CHIP, you may be able to “get low-cost, quality health coverage buy a health insurance plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace [which] cover things like prescription drugs, doctor visits, urgent care, hospital visits, and more” (Healthcare.gov). For more information on the process of Medicaid Unwinding, and to see the rules regarding your state, visit here.
When there is a disaster or event (manmade or natural) that threatens the health and wellbeing of the population then the ‘Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may, under section 319 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, determine that: a) a disease or disorder presents a public health emergency (PHE); or b) that a public health emergency, including significant outbreaks of infectious disease or bioterrorist attacks, otherwise exists.’ Examples of public health emergencies include the anthrax attacks in the early 2000s, the 2009 Swine flu and more recently, the Covid-19 pandemic” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).
The declaration lasts for 90 days or the duration of the emergency. It can be extended and in the case of Covid 19, the public health emergency has been extended several times. All relevant governmental agencies are kept informed.
The Covid public health emergency was proclaimed by President Donald Trump on March 13, 2020. Read the full text here.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 201 and 301 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601et seq.) and consistent with section 1135 of the Social Security Act (SSA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 1320b-5), do hereby find and proclaim that the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States constitutes a national emergency, beginning March 1, 2020.
Federal Register
The Health and Human Services Secretary is empowered to waive program requirements for Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that allowed millions of people who otherwise might have been ineligible, to stay on the Medicaid rolls. Covid-19 testing, treatment and vaccination was paid for by the Federal government.
You can watch the declaration of the Public Health Emergency here.
The Covid-19 public health emergency has been extended many times and is set to end on May 11, 2023. The end of the emergency will see many of the pandemic related provisions that covered free Covid-19 testing, vaccinations and health care to end. Medicaid allowed continuous coverage for an additional 20 million people without them having to renew their application annually. Medicaid unwinding is the process by which state Medicaid programs return to following federal rules as of April 1, 2023 which requires enrollees to renew their coverage annually. Many of them will lose their health coverage because their income is too high or their children aged out of the program.
Social Media Trends as of March 15, 2023
Because “Public Health Emergency” can refer to disasters other than Covid-19 I have not included social media statistics for this.
“Quiet quitting” was declared the phrase of 2022 according to an article published for Morning Brew which said the phrase “simply means not going above and beyond at work, or performing the responsibilities laid out in your job description and nothing more” (Merritt).
I included the phrase in the Covid Lexicon as it went viral in August that year after TikTok creator Zaiad Khan shared a video about “quiet quitting” where he says “you’re not outright quitting your job, but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond.” You can watch the video here and below.
Why did the phrase have so much impact in 2022? The article mentioned above answers that question:
After two years in a global pandemic, constant rumors of an upcoming recession, and yogurt costing more than it ever has, it makes sense that people might be rejecting “hustle culture” and are now just a little less focused on replying to emails.
Merritt
An article that appeared on CBS News said that quiet quitting is “partly a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions of workers lost their jobs as the disease shuttered the economy. Although most have found new jobs or been rehired, the nation’s workforce remains smaller than prior to the health crisis. That is putting more strain on existing employees, who are often asked to do more for the same pay” (Picchi).
The Roundtable YouTube channel recently uploaded a discussion about the concept of quiet quitting and how TikTok creator Zaidleppelin made the phrase go viral in 2022. You can watch it below or here.
Google Trends: “quiet quitting” first appeared during the first week of July 2022 when TikTok creator Zaidleppelin introduced the concept of Quiet Quitting that quickly went viral. According to a survey conducted by YorkTest, searches on Google for the phrase increased by 18,000% the following month which you can see in the chart below (Open Access Government).
As a follow-up from my last blog on Thank you NHS, this post is about the social movement and phrase “Clap for Our Carers” which was started by Annemarie Plas who got the idea of regularly clapping for National Health Service (NHS) workers in appreciation for their service during the pandemic from similar movements in her home country of The Netherlands.
An article published for The Guardian described the beginning of the “Clap For Our Carers” campaign and the feelings it invoked:
In those strange, unending days of the spring lockdown, the thing that marked time for many of us in the UK was the weekly round of applause for NHS staff and other care and key workers. Every Thursday at 8pm, people stood on doorsteps or leaned out of windows, clapping (or whooping or bashing pans) in appreciation of those who were working in difficult circumstances. The first, on 26 March, took place three days after Boris Johnson addressed the nation, and knowing it was happening across the country created a rare feeling of unity, as well as introducing many of us to our neighbours for the first time.
Saner
The “Clap for Our Carers” inspired artists to show their support for the campaign. Nathan Wyburn, of Cardiff, created a “digital portrait of a nurse using more than 200 selfies contributed by NHS staff on Facebook…Mr Wyburn, 30, decided to make the art after he was ‘moved to tears’ by last week’s ‘Clap for our Carers’ appeal” (Draper). Nathan posted a clip of an interview with BBC Wales about his artwork. You can watch the video below.
Clap For Our Carers, the official Thursday 8pm applause is back this week for ‘Lockdown 3’ this time we are widening the message to show appreciation for all our heroes! Join in and #clapforheros tomorrow night! 👏💙 pic.twitter.com/M0gezNisnA
The “Clap for Our Carers” campaign lasted for three months and was supported by politicians as well as the late Queen. The final clap was held on May 28, 2020. Even though the pandemic is behind us, we will always be grateful for the hard work of our beloved National Health Service staff for the risks they took to help care for those during the global pandemic.
Google Trends: “clap for our carers” first appeared during the week of March 22, 2020 when the first campaign began at 8pm on March 26, 2020 where people from across the United Kingdom clapped and cheered to show their appreciation for the NHS staff who risked their lives to care for patients during the pandemic.
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is the envy of the world. Medical care is free at the point of contact so you won’t go bankrupt paying medical bills because the system is funded by taxes. The NHS performed admirably at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and its doctors, nurses, and support staff worked tirelessly to help patients recover.
As a result, the slogan “Thank you NHS” became a social phenomenon in the United Kingdom during the early part of the pandemic. Government officials, organizations and people everywhere posted supportive messages of support for NHS workers acknowledging the work they were doing in saving lives despite the risks of catching Covid-19.
A Wikipedia article describing the phenomenon said “large numbers of private individuals placed home-made signs in their windows and outside their homes to thank the NHS workers. The handmade posters frequently featured drawings of rainbows. The campaign was supported by the Conservative Party-controlled British government, which displayed children’s ‘Thank You NHS’ signs in the windows of 10 Downing Street.”
On April 8, 2020 Twitter posted a Tweet of the NHS Song which was written by Geoff Morrow and performed by Talia Morrow.
Facebook #thankyounhs: 136,000 people are posting about this Instagram #thankyounhs: 229,716 posts TikTok #thankyounhs: 714,900,000 views YouTube #thankyounhs: 1,300 videos and 697 channels
Google Trends: “thank you NHS” first appeared during the week of March 22, 2020 and reached its peak during the week of April 12, 2020 during lockdown.
Happy new year readers! Let’s hope that the pandemic can be defeated and put behind us. Today’s word, although not new, is workcation and is a portmanteau of the words “work” and “vacation” and refers to working remotely while enjoying the benefits of vacationing. For example, you might be on a business trip for a few days and want to check out the local sites of interest.
An article published for HelloLanding.com on August 1, 2022 explains what a workcation is, the benefits of taking one and how to plan your nomadic workcation getaway:
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, there has been a huge increase in people working remotely. While some have waved goodbye to office life in favor of being a full-time digital nomad, others have preferred to work from home, allowing them to spend more time with their families and achieve a better work-life balance.
This new trend of working remotely has led to the rise of the “workcation” (also spelled “workation”), a concept that combines work and travel. The two terms might seem contradictory at first, but people are beginning to find that taking a workcation allows them to destress, recharge, and explore a new place without falling behind on their workload.
A workcation might last for a couple of days, weeks, or even months—basically, it can be whatever you want it to be! You’re still expected to get all of your work done as normal, but rather than working from home or the office, you can bring your laptop to the pool, a coworking space, or even the beach (just be mindful of the sand!).
While workcations aren’t necessarily a new concept, the rise of remote work has led more and more people to realize that a hotel room or vacation rental apartment is just as good as their living room for getting a day’s work done.
Danielle Leigh
Workcations can have their disadvantages. For starters, there is too much temptation to just enjoy the “vacation” part of workcation and not do the work. With remote working, the lines between our personal and business lives are already blurred. It is not uncommon to feel pressured to respond to emails and deadlines outside of working hours. Rewire.org, a non-profit journalism website, said that “white collar workers specifically are under constant pressure to be available at a moment’s notice, and the notifications – from email, Slack, Google Chat, and others – are seemingly endless. The pandemic has only exacerbated this trend: for the 42 percent of the American workforce that has been working from home for the past 12 to 18 months, there is no longer any physical separation between life and work” (Banks). There is a balance to be achieved to make a workcation “work.”
Facebook #workcation: 23,000 people are posting about this Instagram #workcation: 176,481 posts TikTok #workcation: 11,300,000 views YouTube #workcation: 851 videos and 273 channels
Google Trends: workcation first appeared in 2004 but since the pandemic the popularity of the term has increased due to the high number of people who were able to remote work.
I’ve been busy with work and university so blogging has taken a bit of a backseat this month but I will continue in 2023 to finish the remaining terms that have entered the pandemic vocabulary. This will be my last post for 2022 and I wish you all a happy Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.
Today’s word in the pandemic lexicon is “tripledemic” (also known as tri-demic) and it first appeared in Google Trends during the week of October 23, 2022. I’ve heard it mentioned several times while watching the news. Just a few months ago I was blogging about the twindemic. Dictionary.com published a definition for tripledemic this week:
The similar term twindemic has been used to refer to a (potential) simultaneous large-scale outbreak of the flu and COVID-19. Both twindemic and tripledemic refer to spread among a population (not necessarily the presence of multiple diseases in the same people at the same time). Though both words are used by some health and medical officials, they are both informal terms (as opposed to technical terms used in the field of epidemiology).
Dictionary.com
A news report published last week for CNBC.com says that “most Americans aren’t wearing face masks anymore – and their timing isn’t great, says a leading infectious disease expert…At the same time, Covid-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are all spreading at alarming rates, overwhelming hospitals nationwide. Covid alone currently accounts for 386 deaths per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” (Onque).
An article published yesterday for WJAC.com reported that Labcorp has produced a new at home test called “The Pixel” which can detect Covid, Influenza and R.S.V simultaneously (Jarrell). To learn more about ordering this test, click here.
Last month Scripps Health interviewed Dr. Siu Ming Geary about the tripledemic. You can watch the interview on YouTube here. Dr. Geary explains what the tripledemic is and provides good advice on how to recognize the signs and symptoms of flu, when to get a flu shot and how to stay healthy if someone in your home has RSV.
courtesy of MakeAMeme
Social Media Trends as of December 24, 2022
Facebook #tripledemic: people are posting about this Instagram #tripledemic: 761 posts TikTok #tripledemic: 5,900,000 views YouTube #tripledemic: less than 100 videos and channels
Google Trends: “tripledemic” first appeared during the week of October 23, 2022 and reached its peak during the week of December 11, 2022 as the number of cases of children and adults admitted to hospital suffering with flu, Covid-19 and RSV reached an all time high.
The term “hot desking” (also known as office hoteling) has been around for a while and refers to a workplace practice of having multiple employees using a single desk or workplace station during different rotating work schedules instead of each employee having their own desk and/or cubicle. Prior to the pandemic, hot desking was an efficient way of using minimal office space due to the cost savings and this was especially true in large cities where the cost of commercial real estate was high.
Hot desking became more prevalent during the pandemic when remote workers were called back to the office a few days a week. Companies could save money using this practice by having a few shared offices that accommodated their employees’ hybrid work schedules while saving money and resources not having to pay for unused office space.
There are advantages and disadvantages to hot desking as Anne Quito writes about in an article for QZ.com:
I’m writing this from a “hot desk,” and it’s leaving me feeling a bit cold. Like many companies that have reopened their offices after the pandemic, Quartz has adopted a shared workstation system, and new procedures to promote health and safety. Social distanced and sanitized, my desk feels like a surface where no variant of SARS-CoV-2 could thrive. But it’s also wiped away the thrill of having been assigned a small parcel of office real estate, an emblem of belonging somewhere, of being part of a staff.
Experts like Philip Ross, CEO of the management consulting firm UnWork, say that “hot desking” is the solution for the post-Covid office. He predicts that companies will need 60% less office space due to the popularity of hybrid work arrangements. Even before Covid-19, many companies have adopted a hot desk system, also known as “office hoteling.”
I asked CEO Knud Erik Hansen what he thought about the post-pandemic rage for hot desks. He shared my lament. “It is sad,” he says. “It’s a sign of belonging to a company. It’s part of our culture that you have a chair, a table, and an area where you can develop your work. When that disappears, I wonder if your loyalty to the company might disappear too.”
Jenn of CareersByJenn discusses what Hot Desking is, how it works and the advantages this workplace practice offers.
courtesy of MakeAMeme
Social Media Trends as of November 25, 2022
Facebook #hotdesking: 2,400 people are posting about this Instagram #hotdesking: 26,189 posts TikTok #hotdesking: 245,800 views YouTube #hotdesking: less than 100 videos and channels
Google Trends: “hot desking” has been around for some time but the phrase peaked during the week of January 16, 2022 when many companies were implementing this practice to accommodate their hybrid workers.
Many low paid essential employees receive “hero pay” during the pandemic and especially during periods of lockdown in appreciation for putting themselves at risk of catching Covid-19 whilst serving the public. Also known as “hazard pay,” many grocery store workers receive a couple of extra dollars per hour on top of their hourly pay. Most of these workers were already receiving less than minimum wage and so “hero pay” gave them a significant bump up in their wages. ShopRite, Stop & Shop, CVS, Amazon and other retail locations all gave their employees a bump in their hourly pay and most of these increase were instituted in March 2020.
Hero pay was sometimes referred to as Emergency Sick Pay and Compensation. On March 23, 2020 a Facebook post from ShopRite of Upper Deerfield in New Jersey said: “Our associates are going above and beyond in the face of the COVID-19 emergency. To show our support, we have implemented an Emergency Sick Pay and Compensation Program, that includes a $2 per hour increase in their wages at the following Bottino Supermarkets stores: ShopRite of Delsea-Vineland, ShopRite of Millville, ShopRite of Upper Deerfield and ShopRite of Washington Township.”
Recognizing that grocery store workers faced a much higher risk of infection and death from Covid-19 the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union which represents over 1.3 million workers announced an agreement with ShopRite that would give 50,000 union employees hazard pay across locations in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York:
The deal recognizes the ongoing risks ShopRite workers have faced as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, and provides retroactive hazard pay ahead of the holiday season that covers all hours worked between July 26 and August 22…UFCW confirmed this week that there have been at least 109 grocery worker deaths and over 48,000 grocery workers infected or exposed since the pandemic began.
UFCW International President Marc Perrone released the following statement: “Grocery workers have been on the frontlines since this pandemic began and continue to put themselves in harm’s way to help families put food on this Thanksgiving. This new UFCW agreement is a powerful victory for ShopRite grocery workers across New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.”
UFCW
The extra money that these essential frontline workers enjoyed did not last. Once lockdown restrictions and mandates began to be lifted, grocery and retail stores ended hero pay. Radio station NJ1015 reported on July 15, 2020 that Stop & Shop was the latest grocery store to end “hero pay” for its employees. Many grocery stores extended this program through the months of April and May 2020:
Albertsons Companies, which owns Acme supermarkets, also offered a temporary $2 a hour increase for all non-union and union employees from March 20 to May 2.
Wegmans provided employees an additional $2 an hour at the height of the pandemic during the months of March, April and May.
As reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Whole Foods workers received an additional $2 an hour for as least some of the spring, but that program ended June 1.
ShopRite continues to provide store employees “temporary emergency premium pay” of $2 per hour, also instituted March 22 as the public health crisis first gripped the state.
“As non-essential businesses start to reopen, we have begun the process of transitioning to pre-COVID-19 wages. We will discontinue the emergency premium pay effective August 2,” according to Karen O’Shea, spokeswoman for ShopRite parent company Wakefern.
Vogt
The Today Show ran a segment discussing how thousands of grocery store and other retail workers will see their paychecks get smaller as hero pay comes to an end.
Some “hero pay” raises had unintended effects. Legislation passed in California which implemented $4 or $5 hourly raises for grocery workers caused some grocery stores to close their doors. On March 12, 2021 an article published on Reason.com said that “Kroger has announced that it will be closing three stores in Los Angeles as a result of the county’s new hazard pay law” (Britschgi).
We are grateful to all the heros who went to work at their own risk to provide us with the things we need.
Social Media Trends as of November 24, 2022
Facebook #heropay: people are posting about this Instagram #heropay: 465 posts TikTok #heropay: 50,900 views
Google Trends: “hero pay” first appeared during the end of March 2020 as grocery and retail stores started paying their workers hazard pay in appreciation and acknowledgement of the risks they took to provide the public with essential items and services.
The term “frontline worker” has been around for a long time. The Law Insider journal, a resource center for lawyers, defines frontline workers as “employees who directly produce goods or deliver services. In general they are eligible for overtime compensation, regardless of job title. Managers and Supervisors as defined below are not Frontline Workers.” The global pandemic and its associated lockdowns added to this definition.
In 2021 the New York Department of Labor published a document entitled “Characteristics of Frontline Essential Workers” which defined what a frontline worker is as well as their occupation:
The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a host of pervasive words and phrases that suddenly had new meaning in our daily lives. One example, “Essential Workforce”, became the ubiquitous catch-all for workers who were forced to continue working during lockdowns. The federal Centers for Disease Control defines “essential workers” as “those who conduct a range of operations and services in industries that are essential to ensure the continuity of critical functions in the United States.” A subset of this group, the “Frontline Essential” workers, refers to those who perform critical work functions in close physical proximity to other people. “Frontline Essential” workers are at the greatest risk of exposure to COVID-19 as they perform their day-today job duties.
New York Department of Labor
The report lists some of the occupations of frontline workers: Cashiers, Cooks, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Nursing Assistants, Police, Registered Nurses and Teachers.
In June 2022 a group called The Front Line Singers consisting of a choir of frontline workers made up of nurses, teachers and paramedics, performed “an original song inspired by their struggles and team work during the coronavirus pandemic” on Britain’s Got Talent (Duke). The performance can be watched on the show’s YouTube channel here.
An article published on Chronicle Live quoted Simon Cowell praising the group for their performance: “What we’ve gone through the last few years, it’s surreal and then out of it comes moments like this. It gives us a chance to say thank you to people like you, because it’s people like you who protected all of us” (Duke).
Google Trends: “frontline worker” first appeared as a small blip on the radar during the week of July 12, 2020. This is probably in response to people querying who qualified as a frontline worker. The popularity of the term peaked during the week of June 5, 2022 which just coincided with the The Front Line Singers performance on Britain’s Got Talent show.
frontline worker search term
Sources:
Britain’s Got Talent channel. “These frontline HEROES give MOVING performance! | Auditions | BGT 2022.” YouTube. May, 2022. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXDxiBwfjxc.
The phrase “died suddenly” started to appear sometime after the first Covid-19 vaccines were administered when some of those who received the injections suffered a fatal adverse reaction to them – sometimes within hours of getting the shot. This is a controversial subject for obvious reasons but the phrase has appeared constantly in the news and on television. A cursory Google search containing the phrase “died suddenly” lists several news articles about the unexpected deaths of athletes, news presenters, doctors, teachers, students and even young children.
Died Suddenly is the name of a movie released by the Stew Peters Network on November 21, 2022. It explores the fatal adverse reactions to the Covid-19 vaccines and was produced by two award winning filmmakers, Matthew Skow and Nicholas Stumphauzer and can be watched for free here.
The official Twitter handle for Died Suddenly appears here.
The movie had mixed reviews with some calling it a conspiracy theory and others saying there is truth to what the movie portrays. One critical review published on Distractify.com says the movie is “anti-vaxx propaganda that tries to link real-life tragedies to the COVID-19 vaccine via baseless claims and erroneous information” (Cadorniga).
This blog reports on words and phrases that have entered our lexicon since the beginning of the pandemic and any creative content associated with these terms.
Google Trends: “died suddenly” has always been around because some people do die suddenly either in their sleep or whilst engaging in some activity. However, the popularity of the term spiked during the last week of October 2021 which was some months after the Covid-19 vaccine became available to the public. It peaked during the first week of November 2022 when the movie Died Suddenly was released.
Essential employees or essential workers are those who provide vital services such as nurses, doctors, police and firefighters to name a few professions. At the height of the pandemic, when lockdown restrictions were in effect, the pool of essential workers expanded to include grocery workers, transportation workers and teachers.
The Centers for Disease Control defines essential workers as “as those who conduct a range of operations and services in industries that are essential to ensure the continuity of critical functions in the United States (U.S.)” (CDC).
When lockdown restrictions were in effect, states had to balance protecting the public while keeping the critical parts of their economy open. Millions of office workers deemed “non essential employees” could work remotely while those who worked in vital industries such as health care, policing and teaching still had to show up to work although a majority of schools instituted virtual learning.
Some states had a confusing patchwork of overlapping categories of what was considered essential. The National Conference of State Legislatures pointed out that:
States have added and subtracted essential worker categories and sectors based on what makes the most sense for them. For example, in some states workers supporting religious organizations and churches are considered essential, while in some others workers who support the cannabis industry receive the essential designation. Between the federal guidelines and state essential worker orders, a number of major sectors overlap including, but not limited to energy, child care, water and wastewater, agriculture and food production, critical retail (i.e. grocery stores, hardware stores, mechanics), critical trades (construction workers, electricians, plumbers, etc.) and transportation.
NCSL
CovidLexicon.net
An article published for the Daily Iowan on July 28, 2020 said that custodians and janitorial workers were to be considered essential employees because work calls for them to maintain high standards of cleanliness and sanitation. It quotes Kelly Baker, a faculty member of the University of Iowa College of Public Health, who said “[these workers are] already practicing a lot of the behaviors that we would ask them to implement to protect them from infection, so for example the wearing of gloves and using disinfectant products to clean surfaces and wearing masks and maintaining as much distance and separation from raw biological fluids as possible” (Hartel).
In 2020 the French-American musician Mark Rebillet uploaded a tribute song for essential workers to YouTube called the “Essential Workers Anthem.” It has received almost 2 million views.
Although the pandemic is behind us, we will always remember the sacrifice that essential workers made, risking their lives to provide us with the things we need from healthcare to food and we are forever grateful to them.
Google Trends: “essential employee” first appeared during the week of March 15, 2020 and spiked a week later. No doubt individuals were searching Google to see if their jobs were considered essential or non-essential.
In the early days of the pandemic when mask mandates were required, people who chose not to comply were often confronted about it and “mask shamed” either in person or on social media. Of course, the reverse can also be true – now that the pandemic is more or less behind us and restrictions have been lifted, there are those who still choose to wear masks and they may be shamed or ridiculed for it because everything has gone back to normal.
The Macmillan Dictionary has an entry for mask shaming:
As the country begins to open up, the mask shaming has moved from social media to in-person confrontations.
Mask shaming shows how quickly new behaviours can go from rare to common.
The Urban Dictionary also has an entry for this term:
When others treat you with disdain or contempt for (1) not wearing a mask in public or (2) wearing a medical grade mask that health care providers need.
I was mask shamed while lining up for groceries without a facial covering. The piercing stares and angry mumbles from those wearing masks left me feeling uncomfortable.
GD
Mask shaming regularly appeared in the news around the time that Covid restrictions were being instituted. An article published for NBC Bay Area News on May 7, 2020 reported that individuals were being publicly shamed for not wearing a mask: “’It happened to me the other day,’ said Oakland resident Katherine. ‘I went for a walk in the morning and someone came up to me and said ‘put on a mask!’ I felt bad” (McSweeney). Some feel that “mask shaming” is necessary to remind people that everyone is responsible for doing their part to prevent the spread of Covid-19 while others feel that shaming people simply adds tension to the situation.
The other kind of mask shaming – insulting those who continue to wear masks – has been an issue for people going back to the office. In April 2022 the Society for Human Resource Management journal published an article about mask shaming colleagues. It noted that “employers have observed an increasing lack of respect in the workplace, including so-called mask shaming—insulting colleagues who, out of concern over COVID-19, continue to wear masks” (Smith). The article quotes Katherine Dudley Helms, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Columbia, S.C. who says that “Many people have decided that, either having had COVID or receiving the vaccine, no further precautions are needed. However, there are others who for many reasons still choose to wear masks and clean their hands frequently. Employers should communicate to their employees the expectation that either choice is valid and should be respected.”
A CBS Sacramento news clip featured interviews with those who have been mask shamed for wearing or not wearing a mask:
Whether you agree with the mask mandates or not or you don’t like the fact people still choose to wear masks in public, you should respect their choice. Don’t mask shame them.
Google Trends: “mask shaming” appeared the week of April 5, 2020 and peaked during Memorial Weekend of that year. This was the time when mask mandates were widespread across the United States. The popularity of the search term tailed off at the beginning of 2021 as more and more states removed their mask mandate.
Coronageddon is a portmanteau of Armaggedon and Corona and refers to the end-times condition created by the rapid spread of Covid-19, mass hospitalizations and coronavirus deaths, huge job losses, lockdowns, quarantine and various other restrictions, not to mention constant news feed about the pandemic.
The Urban Dictionary has an entry for Coronageddon which was added on March 13, 2020:
“The near-certain, end-of-times condition created either by the actual COVID-19 virus or the massive social, financial and political devastation generated on the back of global hysteria” (YAWA).
Credit for the term must go to Bob Greer, a senior advisor for Core Commodity Management. According to a LinkedIn post he made on March 11, 2020, Bob dreamed up the term “coronageddon” in February 2020:
Living in Southern California has given our media more than one “..geddon” to talk about, regarding traffic, wildfires, etc. But I haven’t seen any referent anywhere to “coronageddon,” a term I dreamed up a couple of weeks ago. Maybe you will be able to use it (unfortunately) in your discussions or communications.
Greer
The term appeared in the Visual Thesaurus in an article entitled “New Virus, New Words.” Author Nancy Friedman says: “Since the COVID-19 pandemic began its lethal spread in December 2019, people all over the world have been adopting new behaviors and new vocabulary…Here are some of the new terms — call them coronacoinages or coronanovelties, in honor of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 — that I’ve been tracking over the last few weeks.”
The end of the world, brought about either by the pandemic or by related social and economic collapse. Often used facetiously. Previous such portmanteaus have included snowmageddon and carmageddon; the 55-hour shutdown in 2016 of a freeway through the town of Corona, in Southern California, was also dubbed Coronageddon.
Visual Thesaurus
Coronageddon appears in a news article on the The Truth About Watches website. After discussing the fall in Swiss watch sales, job losses and shorter employee hours, author Joseph Adamas laments that this may be the “beginning of the end for the traditional watch industry…Nine months into Coronageddon and we still don’t know how things are going to play out. The pandemic’s effects continue to shift. Two months ago, the Europeans were happy to lecture us on how their superior system managed the pandemic. Today, Paris is going back into lockdown. The uncertainty makes it very hard for companies to plan for their future and makes predictions almost worthless.”
Here is one person’s take on Coronageddon during 2020. It’s quite funny and I recommend watching it.
It’s important to acknowledge that coronageddon fears were not overblown. No one could have foreseen a two week lockdown in the United States turning into a two year nightmare. As the pandemic becomes endemic and the pubic health emergency in the United States is scheduled to end in January 2023 it is hopeful that humanity can put this once in a century event behind us and move forwards.
Google Trends: coronageddon first appeared in December 2019 when Covid-19 was first spreading in China. It reached its peak during the first week of December 2020.
A blog post on KevinMD which discusses how new words were added to the covid lexicon defined “coronator” as the definition of someone who has recovered from the coronavirus (Maclellan-Tobert).
Coronator, which is a noun, is also found in the Urban Dictionary:
“Coronator – someone who recovers from corona virus. Ruby just recovered from the corona virus. She is a badass Coronator.”
There isn’t much about this word in social media other than Instagram, however, as it did appear in the Urban Dictionary and a blog post I decided to include it. What’s interesting is the blogger’s description of how new words come into existence due to special circumstances:
It is fascinating that Merriam-Webster added 535 new words to their online dictionary in April with this explanation, “A new word is entered in our dictionary when evidence shows it in frequent use by many writers. Usually, this process takes at least a few years, but there are extraordinary cases when a new term enters the language and immediately becomes part of our collective daily vocabulary. Such is the case with the language of the current pandemic.”
From the Delta variant to the Omicron variant, it seems like every week there is a new variant of Covid-19 or a subvariant of a given variant. Quite often you see disturbing headlines of a new strain of Covid-19 and the fear machine gets going. Enter the “scariant” – a bigger, scarier new variant of coronavirus, impervious to all previous vaccines and renders your immunity with impunity.
On 26 April 2021 a Cambridge Dictionary blog post had some word suggestions to add to the dictionary. Here is the definition for scariant:
any new variant of covid-19 that people are very worried about because of the way it is reported in the media, despite the lack of scientific evidence to suggest it is any more dangerous than the original virus
Cambridge Dictionary
Not to be outdone is the Urban Dictionary definition of scariant:
The short video below, entitled “Variant, Scariant, Lab Error” discusses the new variant Deltacron which consists of strains of both the Delta and Omicron variants of Covid-19.
courtesy of knowshares
Social Media Trends as of October 23, 2022
Facebook #scariant: people are posting about this Instagram #scariant: 198 posts TikTok #scariant: 8,259 views
Google Trends: scariant first registered during the week of April 19, 2020 but didn’t reach its popularity peak until the last week of November that year.
Lockstalgia is a portmanteau of lockdown and nostalgia and it means a fondness for the time when the world was in lockdown. Granted, not many will look back fondly on these memories, but some will. If you are now required to go back to the office full time, you might reminisce about the time you could work remotely in your pajamas or take the dog for a walk during lockdown. You might have started new hobbies during this period that you stopped doing once pandemic restrictions lifted and life went slowly back to normal.
The Collins Dictionary’s entry for lockstalgia is defined as “nostalgia for a time when the country was in lockdown, or in a more extreme form of lockdown.”
Lockstalgia also appears in the Cambridge Dictionary blog as one of several new words that entered the vocabulary in 2020:
a feeling of nostalgia for the lockdown period of the covid-19 pandemic.
Above all, just as you may have entered lockdown with purpose, exit it with purpose too. If you do not, then you may start having feelings of “lockstalgia”, and start regretting that you did not keep doing the things that you not only found more efficient but preferred and actually enjoyed.
Mark Pittaccio, a business consultant and behavioral economist for Quilter Financial Planning has some suggestions on how to avoid feelings of lockstalgia:
[the] things we did during lockdown happened in a set of very strange circumstances, and were partly driven by survival instincts. As we move forward, we need to consider how we adopt new things as the traditional rhythms of life resume…Above all, just as you may have entered lockdown with purpose, exit it with purpose too…If you do not, then you may start having feelings of ‘lockstalgia’, and start regretting that you did not keep doing the things that you not only found more efficient but preferred and actually enjoyed.
Citywire
In writing for the Daily News one author sums up their reflections of the pandemic, restrictions and lockdown: “To look on the bright side, as life begins to embrace the ‘new normal’ in our homes, cities and communities, albeit the imaginary horrors experienced by those like me, let’s store all the experiences of the past few months in a secure part of our minds for a time when we may look fondly upon the months of lockdown and tell our grandchildren and great grandchildren stories of how ‘My boss tested posi for the ’Rona so I was in iso. Popped down to the supermarket for some sanny, but it was all Magpie’d.’ Let’s call these memories, lockstalgia” (Dissanayake).
courtesy of Mike Sassi
Social Media Trends as of October 22, 2022
Facebook #lockstalgia: people are posting about this.
When couples are isolated indoors during lockdown and didn’t have much else to do, it seems logical they would be having more sex and more often that not this resulted in more babies being born. It’s hard work taking care of a newborn baby but imagine how difficult it was becoming a parent during the pandemic, coping with shortages of toilet paper and formula, not to mention the financial cost of taking care of a baby when millions of jobs were lost during lockdown.
The cohort of babies born during the global pandemic have come to be known as “corona babies.” The term started to appear in online articles and social media posts around March 2020 and the term appears in the Urban Dictionary:
A baby created as a result of the 2020 coronavirus outbreak, where people isolated together indoors with nothing better to do than “work from home” and hoard toilet paper.
“Did you know they just had a corona baby?”
“Being shut in together for 2 months will do that”
“At least the corona baby has a lifetime supply of TP“
The possibility of a Covid baby boom was discussed in a tweet posted by Starcasm on March 16, 2020.
9 months from now there are going to be a LOT of babies being born. Might as well start coming up with names for the group, right? As they grow older, I'm thinking it will go: Corona babies ➪ COVID kids ➪ Quaranteenagers ➪ illennials
Back in 2020 The List published a YouTube video asking viewers the question “will the coronavirus lead to a baby boom?”
More than two years after lockdown we have the answer to this question. An article published for the Daily Caller on May 24, 2022 acknowledged there had been an increase in the birth rate caused by the pandemic:
The U.S. birthrate saw a 1% increase over the course of 2021 with 3.66 million babies being born throughout the year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics. All age groups of women over 25 contributed to the jump in birthrates, with some experts suggesting that a lengthening COVID-19 pandemic might have contributed to the bump, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Bryan Babb
courtesy of Mercenary_hero
Social Media Trends as of October 9, 2022
Facebook #coronababy: 11,000 people are posting about this Instagram #coronababy: 43,396 posts TikTok #coronababy: 29,900,000 views YouTube #coronababy: 100 videos and channels
Google Trends: “corona baby” peaked during the week of March 15th 2020 which coincided with lockdown.
It’s no surprise that during the pandemic many people felt lonely and isolated during periods of lockdown and quarantine. Many felt the constant restrictions on movement with each new Covid wave were never ending. Couples didn’t want to be stuck at home and apart from each other so many made the decision to move in together making lockdown easier to manage. Enter the “turbo relationship,” a positive side effect of the pandemic where couples felt their relationship moved at a quicker pace than it normally would have done during periods of lockdown and where commitment milestones happened faster.
This podcast presented by Shira and Ryan discusses how dating has changed during the pandemic which has led to the term “Turbo Relationships.” (Audacy). The discussion begins at 0:33:25.
A Yahoo news report said it was unclear where the term “turbo relationship” had originated from but that it was used heavily in a report called Relationships in Lockdown produced by dating websites eHarmony and Relate. Couples’ counselors met with focus groups and the findings came from a “nationally representative sample of more than 2,000 adults” (Miller). This is what the report found:
Coined ‘turbo relationships’, over a third agree that two months in isolation feels equivalent to two years of commitment, and the same amount say they’ve reached common relationship milestones, such as moving in together, quicker. This acceleration has also led to more sex, better communication and the opportunity to discover new, shared passions.
Relate
The relationship website DatingAdvice.com published a list of dating definitions on April 4, 2022 which includes the turbo relationship:
A turbo relationship is like dating on steroids. It’s a relationship on the fast track on the highway to love. This relationship trend appeared more frequently during the beginning of the pandemic, when couples quickly decided to quarantine together rather than weathering the virus alone. With a turbo relationship, couples get serious super quickly, and often define the relationship by the second date.
By the end of the week, a couple in a turbo relationship may decide they’re a perfect match, confess their love to their new partner, and talk about a future together.
Spira
Watch the discussion below as Kulie and Yue discuss their own experiences with Turbo Relationships and ask some important questions. Are turbo relationships a good thing or are there drawbacks to moving so quickly?
Google Trends: “turbo relationship” was first picked up in March 2020 when lockdowns began in the United States. The term hit a peak in July 2021 when the delta variant of Covid-19 gained ground forcing new lockdowns and quarantines. The popularity of the term began to subside at the end of August 2022.
The pandemic changed all aspects of our lives and how we do certain things but it didn’t stop people falling in love and getting engaged. For many couples during periods of lockdown and/or quarantine, this is the first time they’ve been alone together for weeks or months on end. It can make it difficult not to step on each others’ toes. Being around someone 24/7 during lockdown allows you to see your partner’s strengths and weaknesses. It can certainly test a relationship but it can also make a person realize that the person they’re dating is the one they want to spend the rest of their life with so many did pop the question – hence the phrase “lockdown engagement.”
Although the phrase doesn’t appear in any dictionary definitions, it does appear a lot in social media. An article published in The National News on December 24, 2020 entitled “Glossary of 2020: the 36 new words and phrases that defined the year” had this to say:
As ubiquitous across social media as the sourdough starter (see below), the lockdown engagement is the act of popping the question because you’ve read the entire internet, watched everything on Netflix and are looking for the next distraction. US actress and singer Demi Lovato became the poster child for the lockdown engagement, when she and The Young and the Restless actor Max Ehrich got engaged one month after quarantining together.
Gemma White
The Hitched website that caters to weddings explains the difficulties that couples faced during this unprecedented time: “We spoke to three couples who said ‘Yes!’ during lockdown and discovered what it was really like to get proposed to during a global pandemic. From cancelled holidays where romantic proposals were planned to rings getting stuck in shut-down jewellery shops, lockdown certainly threw a spanner in the works! Add in not being able to hug your loved ones or tell them the good news face-to-face, and lockdown proposals really were – yep – an unprecedented experience” (Pye).
Early on in the pandemic, there were all kinds of dating and wedding websites offering advice to couples living together in lockdown. One British company specializing in elopement weddings had this to say: “Lockdown Engagements – we’ve had a lot of enquiries recently from couples who have popped the question during this time (COVID 19). I’m loving hearing about these lockdown engagement stories – keep em coming! And I’m loving seeing love conquer all during this time!!” The company offers tips on how couples can celebrate their lockdown engagement during quarantine:
ZOOM LOCKDOWN ENGAGEMENT PARTY!
Organise a zoom party and surprise your nearest and dearest with the news! it’s that simple.
PLANT A TREE FOR YOUR LOCKDOWN ENGAGEMENT
Planting a tree, or a plant, some seeds or ANYTHING is a lovely idea. This doesn’t have to be a big plant and if you don’t have a garden, plant it in a pot for your home. You can watch it grow, and see it in years to come as a momentum of your lockdown engagement.
TREAT YOURSELF!
There are loads of services online that delivered bespoke hampers…Most local businesses are doing online deliveries at the moment – get a nice selection of your favourite things…and have a romantic date night.
Ever After Elopement Weddings
Lockdown inspired many content creators including those who make greeting cards. BrainBoxCandy who sells cards on Etsy created this “Lockdown Engagement” card.
courtesy of BrainBoxCandy
Here is one couple who had to change their original engagement plans due to Covid 19. They show how to plan an amazing lockdown engagement party!
Google Trends: “lockdown engagement” first registered in February 2020 just before lockdown began but this may refer to users in China where the pandemic started. The popularity of the term peaked in December 2021 when the Omicron variant was spreading around the United States and the rest of the world resulting in more periods of lockdown and quarantine. This was a difficult time for couples because they couldn’t hold engagement parties and planning weddings during a pandemic with all the restrictions would have been almost impossible.
On April 2, 2020 USA Today featured an article entitled “Will coronavirus cause a baby boom, or is that just a myth? Prepare for jokes, if not babies!” (Puente). It’s logical to expect that the more time spent together with your significant other during periods of lockdown and quarantine the greater the chances are of an unplanned pregnancy especially if the couple cannot access contraception.
Nobody could say back then how long lockdown would last or the pandemic in general but people were starting to come up with ideas as to what to name the generation born during the pandemic. After some humorous talk about baby boom jokes, the article went onto say “The interest is such that people on Twitter are suggesting new names for this supposed coronavirus cohort: Coronials. Quaranteens. Baby Zoomers.”
Are we all agreed that babies born 9 months after COVID-19 are going to be call coronials? And in 2033/2034 they'll all become quaranteens?#dadjoke
Merriam Webster’s Dictionary has “coronials” listed under their “Words we’re watching” section: “When a pandemic strikes, things drastically change and, in turn, new words are born to define and communicate the changes and their repercussions. In the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, we published a guide to coronavirus-related words, and we are considering adding another to the list: coronial. The word was coined as a name for a person conceived or born during the pandemic.“
The Coronials will include all those born in December of 2020, and, unless the pandemic ends quickly, the early months of 2021. — Doctor Edmund Fitzgerald, quoted in The Berkeleyside, 1 Apr. 2020
Meanwhile a colleague acquaints me with reports that the generation of children conceived during the pandemic are likely to be called Coronials and then, later, the Quaranteens. — Ian Warden, The Canberra (Australia) Times, 22 Aug. 2020
courtesy of DanielDonohue
Social Media Trends as of August 31, 2022
Facebook #coronials: 2,200 people are posting about this Instagram #coronials: 5,685 posts TikTok #coronials: 925,900 views
Google Trends: coronials registered sometime in February 2020 before lockdown but the popularity of the term reached its peak during the week of March 15, 2020 when lockdown had just started.
“We’re so conditioned to achieve things and to find the perfect mateand then the world shuts down.”
Alone Together is a romantic comedy directed by Katie Holmes who also plays the leading character June. The movie is set in March 2020 around the time the pandemic began. June is a food critic and lives in New York City which is just starting to shut down due to Covid-19. Looking to escape city life for a while, June plans a romantic getaway to upstate New York to meet her boyfriend, John, at an Air BnB. After a series of mishaps involving her journey there, June ends up taking Lyft to her accommodation only to find out it’s been double booked and a man called Charlie is staying there. As pandemic restrictions start to kick in, the couple are forced to live with each other for a time and John is unable to make the journey there due to taking care of his parents. The unlikely couple share aspects of their life with each other and soon grow close.
The New York Times gave a thumbs up to the movie and said its “strongest appeal is in the resonance between what the characters experience and what the world looks like now. But Holmes also finds grace notes as a director. She stages painterly angles for upstate interiors and keeps the mood mellow, allowing her characters to converse without pushing for laughs or sentimental theatrics. Her film is a quiet achievement: a movie that isn’t running from reality” (Bugbee).
The movie had a limited theatrical release in the United States on July 22, 2022 and was available for streaming on July 29, 2022. It’s available to rent on Amazon Prime Video (IMDB). Click below to watch the Alone Together trailer.
courtesy of YouTube
Social Media Trends as of August 7, 2022
Facebook #alonetogether: people are posting about this.
7 Days is a romantic comedy of the pandemic genre that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 10, 2021.
Ravi and Rita are two young Indian-Americans on a pre-arranged date organized by their strict parents who are very traditional. Ravi is boring, repressed, lacks confidence in girls and gets his advice from his mother whom he is very close to but he does good character impersonations. He is looking for a traditional Indian girl and wants three children. Rita is the exact opposite. She eats meat, drinks alcohol, prefers her own company and has no interest in getting married. What initially started off as a failed date ends up with both of them getting closer as a result of Covid-19, lockdown and shelter-in-place orders which forces the two of them to live together for seven days.
One movie reviewer says the film “is a good reminder that characters don’t have to like each other a whole lot for their actors to have great chemistry…7 Days has an overall sweetness that keeps it charismatic for its 85-minute runtime [and] joins the limited ranks of Good Covid-Era Cinema, and applies certain anxieties about the period of shelter-in-place creatively, without manipulation. That is no small feat; neither is making some movie magic out of two actors dancing around the question that, when just elusive enough, always makes for a good story: Will they or won’t they?” (Allen).
Production began during 2020 and filming took eight days. The movie was directed by Roshan Sethi and stars Karan Soni and Geraldine Viswanathan. It won “Best Narrative Feature awards at the San Diego Asian Film Festival and the Coronado Island Film Festival” (Wikipedia). You can watch the trailer below:
courtesy of IMDB
Social Media Trends as of July 16, 2022
Facebook #7daysfilm: people are posting about this Instagram #7daysfilm: 30 posts
We now call it the Great Realisation And yes, since then there have been many. But that’s the story of how it started, And why hindsight’s 2020.
Tomos Roberts
On 29 April 2020 a bedtime story about the pandemic was uploaded to YouTube and quickly went viral for its brilliant story telling, imaginative content and message of hope for everyone living through this once-in-a-century event. The popularity of the poem soon skyrocketed and the luxury and lifestyle magazine Condé Nast Traveller published an article about it on May 11, 2020:
Chances are you’ve seen “The Great Realisation” by UK poet @probablytomfoolery, in which he reads aloud what might be the greatest fairytale of our times. The video, set in a post-COVID19 world and uploaded on 29 April, has been viewed over 30 million times across platforms, and the poem has been transcribed into several languages. Creator Tomos Roberts has requests for a children’s book from publishing houses and even Hollywood’s Jake Gyllenhaal.
The Great Realization is more than two years old and continues to inspire hearts and minds. You can watch it on YouTube here:
The poem was published as a book and is available from Amazon.
After more than two years of lockdowns, quarantine, travel restrictions and remote working, perhaps we will discover the truth of what Tomas meant when he wrote the following:
“And so when we found the cure, and were allowed to go outside We all preferred the world we found, to the one we left behind Old habits became extinct, and they made way for the new And every simple act of kindness, was now given its due.“
Social Media Trends as of June 26, 2022
The hashtag #thegreatrealization produced erroneous results and generally didn’t have anything to do with the poem, however, the book’s front cover says the video has been viewed 60 million times.
Google Trends: “the great realization” as a search term registered about a week after the movie was uploaded to YouTube. Its popularity peaked during the week of May 3, 2020. The video has since been viewed over 7 million times.
Covid-15 refers to the amount of weight gained during lockdown and quarantine when physical activity was at its lowest and the temptation to visit the fridge was always there. The ’15’ is measured pounds.
The earliest reference I could find for Covid-15 were two entries in the Urban Dictionary for March and June 2020:
Definition #2: “Much like the Freshman 15 when a student starts college he gains 15 pounds, the Covid 15 is when people start to gain weight due to inactivity during the Coronavirus pandemic.
To resist the urge to snack while remote working or binge watching Netflix, eat at normal meal times and in moderation. Have healthy snacks on hand like fruit and vegetables instead of chocolate and candy. Don’t over eat or under eat. An article published for The Elliot Hospital website has these tips for staying healthy when you’re home:
“Keeping a food journal is a great way to be aware of ‘mindless’ eating that comes with stress or boredom. Be sure to keep tempting foods out of the house, like chips or bite size chocolates (they add up!).
If you must grab an unhealthy snack, be sure to read the label for serving size and stick to one serving.
Get out of the kitchen! Go for a walk, pick up a book, or make a phone call to a friend to keep your mind off of food.”
Here is a video from News Channel 3-15 featuring helpful advice from Dr. Derek Alessi on how to reverse the weight gain accrued during lockdown. Even though the video is almost two years old, the tips are still relevant, particularly for remote workers!
Social Media Trends as of May 31, 2022
Facebook #covid15: people are posting about this Instagram #covid15: 10,350 posts TikTok #covid15: 4.4 million views YouTube #covid15: less than 100 videos and channels
Google Trends: Covid 15 reached its peak in popularity during the week of March 22, 2020 when everyone was in lockdown.
Vaxed and waxed found its way into the Covid lexicon in the spring of 2021. Escape.com defines it as “the process of getting the Covid vaccine then popping over to the beautician to rid oneself of the bikini line that’s accumulated after a year of hibernation on the couch” (Smiedt).
The phrase became so popular that on April 19, 2021 Mashable.com declared “The people have spoken: ‘Vaxed and waxed’ is the summer 2021 motto.” After more than a year of being cooped up indoors under lockdown and quarantine, whilst practicing social distancing, people are finally ready to go out and party now they’ve been vaccinated. The relief at finally being able to reconnect with friends and family and meeting new people has us “all but screaming ‘vaxed and waxed’ from the rooftops” (Gallucci).
“That’s right, people. It’s only April, but “vaxed and waxed” has already emerged as *the* saying of the summer. People are tweeting the phrase, sharing the news with group chats, and adding the disclaimer to their dating app bios to let everyone know that not only are they fully vaccinated and ready to have a “Shot Girl Summer,” but they’re also waxed and ready to return to the dating scene.”
Galluci, Nicole
For the ladies especially, no “Hot Vax Summer” would be complete without being “Vaxed and Waxed” but according to writer Sam Reed, this “doesn’t have to be literal – it’s an energy. A feeling. It’s the confidence that overcomes you as you’re leaving your Brazilian appointment and everything is, for lack of a better word, sensitive. It’s Hot Girl Summer but for a post-Covid world, where the stakes for a good time are higher than a Project Runway catwalk. It is new, it is fresh, is ready for whatever” (‘Vaxxed and Waxed’ Is the New Hot Girl Summer).
The phrase has found its way into merchandise and apparel. Etsy has a line of “vaxed and waxed” T-shirts, socks, caps and tumblers. The Staying Alive Brand sells a line of T-shirts on Amazon featuring this motif and the description reads “this Vaxed and Waxed apparel is the perfect design for anyone person ready to tell the world you’re vaccinated and ready for action.”
Google Trends: “vaxed and waxed” first appeared in April 2021 just as the phrase started to become mainstream. It reached its peak during the week of May 16, 2021 when people were planning their summer vacations.
Get that shot, make it hot Everybody get your card out Take your mask off Stick your tongue out Get your taste back Shake that ass It’s a Hot Vax Summer
Wallet Jackson (2021)
It’s been almost a year since vaccinated Americans were ready to go outside once more and celebrate the summer after months of being cooped up indoors, under lockdown, quarantined and fear of catching Covid-19 – hence the phrase “Hot Vax Summer.”
The earliest reference to this phrase is an article published on March 25, 2021 for Scary Mommy: “Adults both partnered and single reported little desire to get it on, whether due to a lack of dating options in quarantine or increased stress thanks to trying to manage work, family, and everything else on top of, you know, worrying about you and your loved ones contracting a deadly virus – but it seems the tides, they are a-changin’, because “hot vax summer” is upon us” (Tschinkel). The article describes the challenges caused by lockdown and quarantine and how people can’t wait to “abandon Zoom and socially distanced meet-ups” so they can actually hang out with people in person and connect with them. Many people were stuck indoors, afraid to go out for fear of catching Covid-19 and some put their dating life on the back burner for over a year. With the freedom that vaccines brought, many felt it was time to go out and let their hair down to enjoy a hot vax summer.
An article published on May 29, 2021 for CNN said “This weekend kicks off ‘Hot Vax Summer,’ an unofficial term meaning that vaccinated Americans are ready to go wild and make up for lost time. We’re going on vacation again, drinking heavily (still), dressing up and eating out” (Valinsky). Dating, happy hour, wining and dining and music concerts were some of the activities people were looking forward to.
The phrase “Hot Vax Summer” is the name of a popular song released in 2021 featuring artists Wallet Jackson and Avocado Banks. They have a website of the same name here where you can download a free “Hot Vax Summer” wallpaper for your cellphone and buy a “Hot Vax Summer” T-shirt with some of the proceeds going to UNICEF to assist with procuring vaccines for countries that can’t afford them.
Social Media Trends as of May 24, 2022
Facebook #hotvaxsummer: 2,500 people are posting about this Instagram #hotvaxsummer: 8,130 posts TikTok #hotvaxsummer: 2.5 million views YouTube #hotvaxsummer: less than 100 videos and channels
Google Trends: “hot vax summer” first appeared during the week of March 21, 2021 and reached its peak that summer before leveling off.
What do you call an employee who only goes into the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays And Thursdays? The clue is in the first sentence. The original meaning of the term is a derogatory word used often in the United Kingdom.
An article published for SmartCompany.com on February 24, 2022 asks “are you a T.W.A.T?…Before you type me an angry complaint, know that it stands for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday – it’s an acronym to describe the hybrid workforce who only come into the office three days a week” (Elsworthy).
Office workers showing up only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays – TWaT for short – is well and truly a thing, and it’s got the potential to be a big drag on Melbourne CBD’s economic recovery, writes Noel Towell | OPINION#COVID19Vic#backtotheofficehttps://t.co/nh7sw72u4H
The Huffington Post published an article on the new meaning of this expression saying that “City workers have reportedly been using the term [T.W.A.T] to describe their cheeky colleagues taking advantage of the new ways of working…one person defended the employees, saying: ‘Perhaps better described as hypertwats. They are generally super efficient in the 3-day work period'” (Bakar).
There are no social media reports for this term (I get everything but the pandemic meaning).
Depending on context, and if you’re not in the office Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, then don’t be a T.W.A.T.
“My experience of working from home is you spend an awful lot of time making another cup of coffee and then, you know, getting up, walking very slowly to the fridge, hacking off a small piece of cheese, then walking very slowly back to your laptop and then forgetting what it was you’re doing” – Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister.
The pandemic arrived in the United States in March 2020 which was quickly followed by a two week quarantine lockdown. State and local governments passed emergency mandates that required non-essential businesses to close. Establishments such as restaurants, gyms, salons and movie theaters were shut down and those who worked for them were out of a job. Knowledge workers such as those working in finance and IT were generally allowed to work from home and apps like Zoom became popular as a way for employees to stay in touch with management and coworkers. My office closed for two weeks till the pandemic had passed. We were instructed to take what we needed to do our jobs remotely. Two weeks became two months and then two years and I am still working from home.
For many, this “new normal” afforded them the opportunity to spend more time with their loved including their pets. No longer having to deal with office commutes, expensive lunches and difficult employees, the work life balance and quality of life improved for those working from home. There are many advantages as a remote worker. All those chores that may have waited till the weekend could be squeezed in between Zoom conferences. You could take the dog for a walk and do a virtual workout in your lunch hour.
After most people had been vaccinated and the pandemic had passed its peak and became endemic, there was a push to get people back to the office. Some who’d gone a long time without human contact looked forward to being back in the office but the majority of virtual workers wanted to keep remote working.
In some industries such as the financial sector, senior management felt their employees worked better in the office collaboratively. David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, said “I do think for a business like ours which is an innovative, collaborative apprenticeship culture, this is not ideal for us and it’s not a new normal. It’s an aberration that we’re going to correct as quickly as possible” (McKeever). The British prime minister Boris Johnson said “We need to get back into the habit of getting into the office. There will be lots of people who disagree with me, but I believe people are more productive, more energetic, more full of ideas, when they are surrounded by other people.” Boris felt that workers were unproductive while working remotely and were more likely to spend their working hours drinking slow brewed coffee and hacking off pieces of cheese (Taylor).
Some employees threatened to quit if their company forced them to come back to the office and in the age of the Great Resignation there were plenty of remote working jobs out there. A few few were scared to come back to the office for fear of catching Covid-19 but most wanted to keep their work/life balance.
Not every company was so demanding. Many CEOs recognized the benefits of remote working and employees found they were more productive working from home. In order to meet remote workers half way, some companies proposed a hybrid working environment whereby employees would come into the office a few days a week and work from home the rest of the week. Apple Corp created “return to office plans” that allowed employees to work a hybrid schedule with some days in the office and the rest working from home.
Check out this funny YouTube video on “when meetings are no longer virtual” (Foil Arms and Hog).
The pandemic has changed the lives of office workers forever. Working Monday to Friday in the office from 9-5 is over. Hybrid and remote working schedules are here to stay.
Google Trends: “return to office” as a search term has been around for a while but its popularity peaked in August 2021 as vaccines became widely available and state and local governments decided that it was safe to come back to the office.
This is my 50th post so I thought I’d do something a bit different. Here are some of the popular pandemic memes from 2020. To date, I have posted about 56 different terms, words ands phrases connected to the pandemic and there are plenty left to write about.
During lockdown when people worked remotely and used Zoom to stay in touch with their coworkers a new issue arose – Zoom bombing. This is where an uninvited person joins your video call over Zoom without permission.
An article published on the website How to Geek in April 2020 described the main cause of this: “The problem is how people handle public Zoom meeting links. These links are shared thousands of times between clients, friends, colleagues, classmates, and so on. Careless handling of them can result in a Zoom meeting being open to public access. Then, anyone who finds the link can join an in-progress meeting” (Gunnell).
Unauthorized persons who hijack Zoom meetings have been known to make offensive comments, throw racial slurs and bully people. There are many ways to prevent this from happening. If you must use links without a password don’t post them where they can be easily accessible or found by Google. In the Zoom settings menu you can disable the “Embed Password in Meeting Link for One-Click Join” setting and make it a requirement to have a password to join the meeting. Screen sharing can be disabled except for the host so inappropriate content is not shown. The “Remote Control” feature should be disabled if you don’t want other participants to control your computer. If you don’t want files to be shared you can disable the “File Transfer” option. For a full list of ways to prevent Zoom Bombing read the here.
Zoom bombing can also refer to the unexpected appearance of individual(s) in a video who weren’t supposed to be there. Prior to Zoom calls, the old term was video bombing. One humorous example of Zoom Bombing happened during lockdown during a live interview with the BBC. On May 15, 2021 The Indy100 website published an article titled “Jon Ashworth’s daughter is the latest kid to Zoom-bomb a TV interview.” The shadow health secretary was giving a live interview when his daughter made a cameo appearance. The interview went viral and appeared on Twitter.
A new victim of child Zoom-crashing tonight: shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth pic.twitter.com/ugieTUKWVW
Many of us working remotely are using Zoom for business, meetings, interviews and classes. One mom from New Hampshire zoom bombed her kids’ classes while wearing embarrassing costumes, such as a bear suit and an old man, and posted selfies on her local New Hampshire Facebook page.
Lexicon images: zoom bombing
Social Media Trends as of May 9, 2022
Facebook #zoombombing: 3,100 people are posting about this Instagram #zoombombing: 2,685 posts TikTok #zoombombing: 76.3 million views
Google Trends: zoombombing didn’t register until March 2020 when the pandemic arrived in the United States. The popularity of the term reached its peak during the week of March 29, 2020 which coincided with lockdown.
Lexicon images. “zoombombing concept represented by wooden letter tiles on a wooden table with glasses and a book” image. Adobe.com. File no: 344298530.
Happy Blursday to all my readers! This term entered the lexicon soon after lockdown began. My office was closed in March 2020 and everyone was told to work from home for two weeks till the pandemic had run its course. Well two weeks turned into two months and then two years. Everyday was the same and like many other people who worked remotely, I started to lose track of the days. Was it Thursday or Friday? Sunday or Monday? With no daily commute, every day felt like yesterday, especially under lockdown when we couldn’t go outside except to go shopping or for a solitary walk around the block. Time seemed to pass quickly and the days went by in a blur.
The Collins Dictionary has “blursday” listed as a new word suggestion: “humorous word for any day of the week that feels not much different from the one before” (Melony).
The Urban Dictionary has a couple of entries for “blursday,” one dating from 2007, so this isn’t a new term:
Defintion #1: “When you’ve been sheltering in place for so long because of a global pandemic you have no idea what day it is as they all blur together.
-I got so drunk on Friday. I slept in all blursday but Sunday I went to brunch” (J4432).
Blursday appears in a number of online publications. An article published for WebMD on May 7, 2020, entitled “Today is Blursday: How Lockdown Warps Time,” describes the feeling “of your internal clocks melting as your stay-at-home days drone on” and that many people all over the world report that their perception of time has been distorted because of the effects of lockdown. Most feel that time is speeding up but others say their days have slowed down to a crawl (Goodman).
Some people got creative during lockdown and produced journals for sale like this cool notebook from Amazon described as a “Funny notebook for the shelter in place self-quarantine phenomena where the days blur together” (Lit Notebooks).
Blursday is the name of a movie released in June 2021 which was directed by Vincent Soberano, an award winning actor and filmmaker, and tells the true stories of three couples in their apartments during lockdown. The IMDB entry describes the movie as “a unique and profound story about loss, love and pregnancy during confinement.”
An article published for Broadway World on May 29, 2021 quotes Soberano’s reasons for making the movie: “On Blursday, I wanted to produce a time capsule film, detailing a journey through THE FIRST 100 DAYS of the global pandemic. Following the global theme of “we are all in this together”, I created a couple of cinematic rules: To be performed by three couples around the world and to be captured inside their own apartments using computers and phone cameras.” The movie was filmed at each of the couples’ apartments in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Buenos Aires, “shot via Zoom and in person” (Wild). Watch the trailer below:
image submitted by Piscine26
Social Media Trends as of May 7, 2022
Facebook #blursday: 2,400 people are posting about this Instagram #blursday: 6,081 posts TikTok #blursday: 828,000 views YouTube #blursday: less than 100 videos and channels
Google Trends: blursday first appeared as a blip in February 2009 and didn’t really take off in popularity until March 2020 when lockdown arrived in the United States. The term peaked in April 2020 at the peak of lockdown and then tailed off for a pit, spiking again in November 2020 (as some states reintroduced lockdown after previously lifting them) before returning to where it was in 2009.
The term “The Great Reset” has been around for a couple of years and is the name of the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which was held in June 2020. Klaus Schwab is the founder and chairman of the WEF which started in 1971. The forum meets annually in Davos, Switzerland. Its attendees are politicians, leaders and those prominent in the business world.
Although the term is prevalent everywhere in newspapers, magazines and social media, the Urban Dictionary was the only dictionary that had a definition:
The Great Reset is a proposal by the World Economic Forum (WEF) to rebuild the economy sustainably following the COVID-19 pandemic. It was unveiled in May 2020 by the United Kingdom’s Prince Charles and WEF director Klaus Schwab. It seeks to improve capitalism by making investments more geared toward mutual progress and focusing more on environmental initiatives. It has been criticized for using the pandemic to implement a risky experiment and a petition to stop it gained 80,000 signatures in less than 72 hours. A conspiracy theory has spread in response, claiming it will be used to bring in socioeconomic and environmental changes and a supposed New World Order.”
The official website of the WEF has a page discussing the “Great Reset” and the opening sentence is a quote from Klaus: “The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world” (WEF). The organization discusses how the world can “reset itself” after the pandemic is over to create a more sustaining, prosperous future led by politicians, digital entrepreneurs, and business leaders.
An article published on the WEF website in 2016 entitled “8 predictions for the world in 2030” quotes Danish MP Ida Auken: “I don’t own anything. I don’t own a car. I don’t own a house. I don’t own any appliances or any clothes. Shopping is a distant memory in the city of 2030, whose inhabitants have cracked clean energy and borrow what they need on demand.” It was from this quote that the catchphrase “You will own nothing and you will be happy” proliferated across social media.
On 5 June 2020 the WEF produced a video featuring highlights from the 50th annual meeting known as “The Great Reset Launch.” The points for discussion focus on a “new social contract centred on human dignity, social justice and where societal progress does not fall behind economic development.“
Google Trends: the great reset first appeared as a blip in June 2020 which was around the time that the World Economic Forum hosted its annual meeting to discuss “The Great Reset.” The popularity of the term peaked during the week of November 15, 2020.
Quarantine: “A form of living hell during Covid-19 where we have to stay home and live a very shitty life style and our mental health is affected. We also can’t see our friends or anyone for a long time. We are also out of school and everything.” Also known as a “Cornteen,” the American spelling of quarantine (Urban Dictionary).
We’re in Year 3 of the pandemic and most of us have probably quarantined at least once. It’s a strategy designed to prevent transmission of coronavirus by having those who had close contact with an infected person stay apart from others and having their movements restricted to see if they get sick. Many governments imposed quarantines on people who traveled abroad or even across state lines. Typically the quarantine period was 14 days though this has changed as more people are vaccinated.
The UVA Health website has a glossary of pandemic terms, and for quarantine it says it “is sometimes called ‘isolation.’ Quarantines keep people away from each other to prevent the spread of disease. Stay-at-home orders are a type of quarantine” (Glossary of Terms).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if you were exposed to someone with Covid-19 you should remain home and quarantine for 5 days while wearing a mask around others in the home. You are advised not to travel. After five days you should get tested and watch for symptoms for 10 days from the day you last had contact with someone diagnosed with Covid-19. You do not need to quarantine if you have been fully vaccinated or you previously tested positive for Covid-19 within the last 90 days (Quarantine and Isolation).
Alessi Ayvaz, staff writer for The Californiam recently wrote an article on how the pandemic has changed our lexicon: “If I asked each one of you reading this article the exact difference between quarantine and isolation before and after the pandemic, I am almost certain that you would have had to look up the definitions before (and hopefully not research as much now, whether or not you’ve had your own experiences in the La Loma dorms in Foothill). The CDC defines quarantine as “separating” and “restricting” people possibly exposed to an infection to see if they do become sick, whereas isolation is separating those who are confirmed to be sick from those who are not.“
So what did people do when stuck in quarantine? LoveThyNerd website published a “Nerdy Quarantine Resource Mega List” for nerds which had information on quarantine info, groups to play games with on Facebook, exercising for nerds, coloring pages and online conventions for those in quarantine.
On March 26, 2020 veteran U.S. Army Ranger Mat Best and country artist Tim Montana wrote the song “Quarantine.” As of May 2, 2022 the song has received over 4.5 million views.
“Quarantine, quarantine, Drinking whiskey like vaccine, Waving at the neighbors, Social distancing.”
image submitted by brovarky
Social Media Trends as of May 1, 2022
Facebook #quarantine: 3.9 million people are posting about this Instagram #quarantine: 29,963,299 posts TikTok #quarantine: 78.7 billion views YouTube #quarantine: 304,000 videos and 138,000 channels
Google Trends: quarantine achieved peak popularity during the week of October 25, 2020.
While movie production sets were shut down everywhere during the pandemic, there was one exception for the movie Songbird. It was the first movie to be filmed in Los Angeles during lockdown.
Songbird is a dystopian romantic thriller set in the year 2024 and is based off the Covid-19 pandemic. The world is in its fourth year of lockdown and the virus has mutated into the Covid-23 variant. Those infected have a high rate of mortality but there are some who have natural immunity and are allowed to move about freely without restrictions. The story takes place in Los Angeles and is about Nico, a courier, who is immune to the virus and tries to save his girlfriend Sarah from being forcibly admitted to a quarantine camp known as a Q-Zone by the LA Department of Sanitation. (Wikipedia).
The idea for the movie was conceived in March 2020 just as the pandemic arrived in the United States. Its timing could not have been more controversial and critics accused the producers of being tone death. Production began in July that year and filming wrapped up on August 3, 2020. The film was released on December 11, 2020.
I enjoyed watching the movie and felt the futuristic aspect of it was quite good and realistic but the plot was weak in parts and it felt like there were gaps missing. Overall, it scored 9% on Rotten Tomatoes and the general consensus of the movie was “muddled, tedious, and uninspired, Songbird‘s gimmick never coalesces into a meaningful story about pandemic lockdown.” According to IMDB the film grossed $620,836 worldwide and the movie soundtrack was Leap of Faith written and performed by Lila Sugarman.
An article for TheLos Angeles Times published on December 10, 2020 explains why producer Adam Goodman felt it was the right time to make this movie: “We’re living in a scary time, and the reason the movie is sparking conversation is because it resonates with what we’re experiencing today. The reason why the movie is called ‘Songbird’ is it’s about hope. It’s about resilience. It’s about the strength of the human spirit” (Rottenberg).
Click the YouTube link below to watch the official Songbird trailer. Enjoy the movie, and remember to “stay safe, sane, and sanitized.”
During the pandemic, a number of words and phrases have entered everyday life. Some have appeared only in print and others have become part of our vocabulary while a few existing words have taken on new meaning. Some terms may be considered offensive, however, I feel it’s important to include them for the sake of completion. The information here is presented without prejudice and does not criticize any government policy on the administration of vaccines, lock-downs and mandates. This site serves as a free resource for schools, colleges and universities.
Hello readers! I hope you had a happy new year. I’ve been in grad school and teaching classes so I didn’t have time to post. There are still several terms and phrases from the Pandemic Era that I want to blog about. Going forwards, the pandemic was officially declared over on May 11, 2023. Since then, there have been some new terms to reflect the post-pandemic era. One of them is Coffee Badging.
Coffee badging started in response to “Return to Office” mandates and describes workers who go into the office long enough to have a morning coffee just to satisfy the hybrid working arrangements and then going home early to remote work the rest of the day.
The Urban Dictionary’s has a definition for Coffee Badging:
Since hybrid workers are being asked to return to work, this is a new trend which consists of going into the office building for the morning coffee, “badging in” for the day, and then going home to work for the remainder of the day.
Employers want people back in the office but employees are finding ways to avoid having to put in a full day at the office and facing the dreaded commute home. Office workers all over the country are coming into work, having coffee, earning an imaginary badge for showing up and then leaving early to go home so they can remote work for the rest of the day. They get to enjoy the perks of socializing with workers while keeping their work from home arrangement. CNBC ran an article on the latest trend of coffee badging:
Yannique Ivey may be going back to the office, but she’s open about the fact that you won’t catch her first thing in the morning. Wait too long in the day and you’ll miss her, too.
Ivey, 27, works for a tech consulting firm in Atlanta and says she drives into the office once or twice a month. When she’s there, she commits to an 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. schedule — just in time for a catered lunch, to catch up with colleagues for a few hours, and head out before traffic stalls her in a “hellish” commute home, she tells CNBC Make It.
She and her team are open about this arrangement. Spending a few shortened days in the office each month“takes needed time away from the actual work” to socialize and build community, she says, but “I’m a lot more productive when I’m home, so I get started there and wind down from there.”
Liu
Coffee badging can cause bad feelings between those who put in a full day at the office and those who come in to socialize and leave early to go home and work virtually for the rest of the day. Many employees want to continue their work from home arrangements to avoid a lengthy commute thus saving time and money. Others enjoy the flexibility that remote working offers. The ColoradoBiz website looks at the disadvantages of coffee badging:
Coffee badging can also reduce the time teams spend on collaboration and undermine attempts to build a cohesive work culture. [It] is another obstacle in efforts to convince workers of the value of the office. Employers need to make in-person work meaningful for their teams if they want to successfully combat coffee badging.
Jorgensen
Fox 5 News journalist Richard Giacovas reports on the new trend of coffee badging:
Google Trends: “coffee badging” first appeared in 2022 but since many companies issued return to office mandates, many of which were not strictly enforced, the popularity of the term increased in the Fall of 2023.
