Month: May 2022

Categories
Pandemic

Zoomer(s)

Every generation has its nickname from Boomer to Zoomer, the latter is currently known as Gen Z, the cohort born between 1997 and 2012. During lockdown and quarantine, Gen Z attended virtual school and used Zoom to communicate with their teachers and classmates.

The Seattle Times published an article on February 26, 2021 that discusses certain words and phrases that have become part of the pandemic vocabulary including new words that uniquely describe the experience of living through the Covid era. The author acknowledges that some terms are a “couple of tongue-in-cheek additions that maybe aren’t used daily quite yet – but that certainly should be.”

Zoomer, n. | Definition: 1 Kids who’ve grown up in this age where every social interaction takes place over the video app Zoom. (See also “quaranteen”).  2 Historical/archaic: Adults from the baby boomer generation who think they’re cooler than they are. Example: “Sorry I’ve been MIA at work lately, I’ve got two Zoomers at home and they’re using up all the bandwidth on group Zoom calls with their friends.”

Seattle Times

This isn’t the earliest article where the word zoomer is discussed in a pandemic context. That credit goes to Megan Gerhardt, a Miami University professor who published an opinion piece for NBC News on June 7, 2020 entitled “Coronavirus and Zoom have marked a generation. Let’s call them Zoomers.” Gerhardt discusses how life changing events can influence the naming of generations and some have suggested labeling Gen Z “Coronas” or “Gen P” for Generation Pandemic.

Gerhardt makes the argument that generations should not be named for “tragic disasters” because that label “saddles them with that burden of negativity for life. We didn’t call those who grew up in the late 1920s and early 1930s the ‘Depression Generation,’ nor was Gen X the ‘AIDS Generation’ or Millennials the ‘9/11s’ – those were things they survived, but not how they were defined.” She proposes using a name that honors what a generation has lived through and which captures the positive aspects, as she says “the best name is the one that captures the resiliency this generation will need to bounce back from the impact of the pandemic: The Zoomers. It’s a nod to the former moniker of ‘Z,’ a play on the ‘Boomers’ and an acknowledgment of the dramatic shift to remote communication that will shape the interactions of this generation.”

I decided not to include social media trends for “zoomer” since it has been used as early as 2016 and won’t accurately reflect a pandemic context.

Courtesy of Tarikvision

Sources:

Gerhardt, Megan. “Coronavirus and Zoom have marked a generation. Let’s call them Zoomers.” NCB News. June 10, 2020. URL: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/coronavirus-zoom-have-marked-generation-let-s-call-them-zoomers-ncna1226241.

Seattle Times Staff. “From ‘anti-masker’ to ‘Zooming’: Words and phrases that have become part of our COVID-19 vocabulary.” The Seattle Times. February 26, 2021. URL: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/from-anti-masker-to-zooming-words-and-phrases-that-have-become-part-of-our-covid-19-vocabulary/.

Tarikvision. “3D Isometric Flat Vector Conceptual Illustration of Generation Z, Zoomers.” image. Adobe.com. File no: 415433300.

Categories
Pandemic Pandemic Art Vaccine

Vaxed and Waxed

Now I’m vaxxed and I’m waxed
And I’m looking for trouble
Got the Johnson Johnson but I made it a double
Got double meds ’cause my body resist

Country Grits and the Dicks

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.”

Etsy: Vaxxed and Waxed Unisex T-Shirt

Country rock band Country Grits and the Dicks released the song “Vaxed and Waxed” on July 16, 2021.

courtesy of Pixs:sell

Social Media Trends as of May 25, 2022

Facebook #vaxedandwaxed: 1,100 people are posting about this
Instagram #vaxedandwaxed: 3,156 posts
TikTok #vaxedandwaxed: 1.5 million views

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.

vaxed and waxed search term

Sources:

Country Grits and the Dicks. “Vaxed and Waxed.” YouTube. July 16, 2021. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8kRYCFKBro.

Country Grits and the Dicks. “Vaxed and Waxed” lyrics. Musixmatch. July 16, 2021. URL: https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Country-Grits-the-Dicks/Vaxxed-and-Waxed.

Galluci, Nicole. “The people have spoken: ‘Vaxed and waxed’ is the summer 2021 motto.” Mashable.com. April 19, 2021. URL: https://mashable.com/article/vaxed-waxed-hot-girl-summer-meme.

pixs:sell. “Vaxxed Waxed Ready to Party drink drunk drinking” image. Adobe.com. File no: 437297156.

Reed, Sam. “Vaxxed and Waxed” Is the New Hot Girl Summer.” InStyle.com. May 7, 2021. URL: https://www.instyle.com/beauty/vaxxed-and-waxed-hot-girl-summer.

Smiedt, David. “Vaxxed and waxed: 2021’s sexiest travel trend.” Escape.com. May 13, 2021. URL: https://www.escape.com.au/news/2021s-sexiest-travel-trend/news-story/ce8a486ce139942608526295d52ff5d5.

Categories
Pandemic Pandemic Art Pandemic Relationships

Hot Vax Summer

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.

Hot Vax Summer search term

Sources:

Content Discontent. “Hot Vax Summer (official lyric video).” YouTube. April 23, 2021. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkbrHMPxKLY.”

HOT VAX SUMMER (feat. Wallet Jackson & Avocado Banks) Lyrics.” Lyrics.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2022. URL: https://www.lyrics.com/lyric-lf/6015759/Wallet+Jackson/HOT+VAX+SUMMER+%28feat.+Wallet+Jackson+%26+Avocado+Banks%29.

Tschinkel, Arielle. “‘Hot Vax Summer’ Is Coming, Because We All Deserve Human Touch After 2020.” Scary Mommy. March 25, 2021. URL: https://www.scary
mommy.com/covid-vaccine-hot-vax-summer.

Valinksy, Jordan. “7 signs that summer is about to be lit.” CNN. May 29, 2021. URL: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/29/business/summer-2021-back-to-normal/index.html.

Categories
Pandemic Pandemic Art Remote Working

Zoom & Zooming

When office workers were allowed to work from home during lockdown, Zoom became the #1 app for communicating with coworkers but it wasn’t just employees that benefited. Quarantined families could use Zoom to stay in touch with each other and for some events like funerals, Zoom was the only way to say goodbye to our loved ones. This situation was something I experienced when my grandmother died abroad and I could not travel out of the country to attend her funeral due to lockdown and quarantine restrictions in both countries.

An article published on April 29, 2020 for the Philadelphia Inquirer, by the Angry Grammarian, discusses how the pandemic has changed our language and how zoom, a video conferencing app, has become a verb (Barg).

Zooming appears in the Urban Dictionary as “the act of holding a conference call using the Zoom app during the Coronavirus pandemic.

-Mom: Son, go outside, it’s warm.
Son: I can’t, Mom. I’m Zooming with my physics class” (Licensed_nerd).


Some turned Zoom into an art form. Rosetta, a painter who lives in Ontario, Canada, used her Zoom calls to paint portraits of her friends who also happened to be artists themselves. Check out the interview below:

courtesy of KnowYourMeme

Social Media Trends as of May 23, 2022

Because the Zoom app existed prior to the pandemic, I won’t get any meaningful social media results using the #zoom hashtag, despite its use as a verb. Google Trends showed negligible interest in the zoom search term until the second week of March 2020 when it started to go vertical and reached its peak during the first week of April that year. It’s no coincidence that lockdown was in progress then and people and employers were looking for video conferencing apps to stay in touch with family and coworkers. Zoom also happens to be free to use and requires little setup.

Sources:

Barg, Jeffrey. The Angry Grammarian. “How coronavirus made ‘zoom’ a verb and other ways the pandemic has changed our language.” The Philadelphia Inquirer. April 29, 2020. URL: https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/coronavirus-covid-zoom-pandemic-words-linguistic-20200429.html.

CBC News. “Painter turns pandemic Zoom calls into art.” YouTube. March 11, 2021. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlwyjEz5U2M.

“Finally understood what Zoom meetings remind me of. ” Know Your Meme. May 14, 2020. URL: https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1850422-zoom.

Licensed_nerd. “Zooming.” Urban Dictionary. March 25, 2020. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Zooming.

Categories
Employment Pandemic Remote Working

T.W.A.T (Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays)

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).

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.


Sources:

Bakar, Fatima. “There’s A New Nickname For Hybrid Workers – And It Sounds A Bit Rude.” Huffington Post. August 10, 2021. URL: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/
entry/theres-a-new-name-for-remote-workers-and-its-raising-a-lot-of-eyebrows_uk_616005cce4b0196444237826/.

Elsworthy, Emma. “Are you a T.W.A.T? How the pandemic created a new cohort of hybrid workers.” SmartCompany.com. February 24, 2022. URL: https://www.smart
company.com.au/people-human-resources/remote-work/are-you-a-t-w-a-t-hybrid-workers/.

The Age. “Here come the office TWaTs to ruin our city’s buzz.” Twitter. March 4, 2022. URL: https://twitter.com/theage/status/1499709073993969665.

Categories
Employment Pandemic Remote Working

Return to Office

“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.

@1corporatemillennial

have fun tho 🤣 #YerAWizard #FritoLayRickRoll #StepandFlex #corporatemillennial #9to5 #wfh #millennialsoftiktok #workfromhome #workfromhomehumor #relatable #corporateamerica #corporatetiktok #corporatehumor #officehumor #returntooffice

♬ original sound – Elly | Corporate Millennial


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.

pooiekoo

Social Media Trends as of May 20, 2022

Facebook #returntooffice: 5,500 people are posting about this
Instagram #returntooffice: 9,494 posts
TikTok #returntooffice: 34 million views
YouTube #returntooffice: 153 videos and 108 channels

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.

return to office search term

Sources:

Elly | Corporate Millennial. “When they announce the ‘return to office’ plan.” TikTok. December 30, 2021. URL: https://www.tiktok.com/@1corporatemillennial/
video/7047542286145834287?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en.

Foil Arms and Hog. “Back to the Office: When Meetings are No Longer Virtual.” YouTube. September 2, 2021. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU9VYcQWSOc.

McKeever, Vicky. “Goldman Sachs CEO Solomon calls working from home an ‘aberration’.” CNBC.com. February 25, 2021. URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/
25/goldman-sachs-ceo-solomon-calls-working-from-home-an-aberration-.html.

pooiekoo. “Welcome Note with Hand Sanitizer and Mask on Work Keyboard, Return to Workplace Pandemic” image. Adobe.com. File no: 359144776.

Taylor, Harry. “Boris Johnson says cheese and coffee can distract when working from home.” The Guardian. 14 May 2022. URL: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/
2022/may/14/boris-johnson-urges-more-people-to-return-to-office-working.

Categories
Pandemic Virus

Deltacron

Deltacron was identified in January 2022 by a lab in Cyprus and is a portmanteau of Delta and Omicron and contains genetic material from both Covid-19 variants making this new variant a recombinant one but some medical experts doubt Deltacron exists.

The new variant has an entry in Dictionary.com describing it as “the name given to a supposed combination of the Delta and Omicron variants of the COVID-19 virus; however, many scientific experts have concluded that it does not exist. A number of virologists have said that the appearance of a combined strain was simply the result of contamination of the samples in which it was thought to have been detected. Deltacron is, in fact, not a variant, but a broad nickname describing variants that contain a mixture of mutations found in Delta and Omicron.”

An article titled “What Is Deltacron? A New Coronavirus Variant Or Lab Error?” reports that the lab responsible for discovering the new variant said “on 7 January [that the] team had discovered Deltacron in 25 patients [and the] variant appeared to be a mix of the delta and omicron variants” (Majumder).

Because there are so few cases the World Health Organization has not classified it as a variant of concern. Epidemiologist William Hanage of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said “It’s only a variant if it produces a large number of cases…if it’s not causing lots of cases, people don’t need to be concerned” (Ellis).

Social Media Trends as of May 20, 2022

Facebook #deltacron: 11,000 people are posting about this
Instagram #deltacron: 6,960 posts
TikTok #deltacron: 24.9 million views
YouTube #deltacron: 1,100 videos and 525 channels

Google Trends: deltacron appeared on January 8, 2022 and peaked during the second week of that month before fading into obscurity by the beginning of April 2022.

deltacron search term
Juan

Sources:

“Deltacron.” Dictionary.com. January 18, 2022. URL: https://www.dictionary.com/e/
tech-science/deltacron/.

Ellis, Ralph. “Scientists Identify New COVID Variant Called ‘Deltacron’” WebMD. March 11, 2022. URL: https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20220311/new-covid-variant-deltacron.

Guha Majumder, Bhaswati. “What Is Deltacron? A New Coronavirus Variant Or Lab Error?” Swarajyamag.com. January 10, 2022. URL: https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/what-is-deltacron-a-new-coronavirus-variant-or-lab-error.

Juan. “Lexicon images. “Researcher with blood sample of New Variant of the Covid-19 DELTACRON and generic data of covid-19 Coronavirus Mutations. Doctor in analysis lab holding sample of new strain of covid DELTACRON” image. Adobe.com. File no: 479256877.


Categories
Pandemic Meme

2020 Pandemic Memes

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.

courtesy of Know Your Meme
courtesy of Img Flip
courtesy of Know Your Meme
courtesy of We Are The Mighty
courtesy of GetFit615
courtesy of America’s best pics & Videos
Meme courtesy of eBaum’s World
courtesy of Covid-19 archive
Categories
Pandemic Testing Virus

Drive thru testing

Coronavirus testing sites began to appear in March 2020. The major pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens adapted their existing prescription pickup drive thru so that customers could get tested for Covid-19. Appointments had to be made online and testing could not be performed inside the pharmacy. Their were specific instructions for this kind of test: “In drive-through testing, the person undergoing testing remains in a vehicle while a healthcare professional approaches the vehicle and obtains a sample, all while taking appropriate precautions such as wearing personal protective equipment (PPE)” (Wikipedia).

drive thru testing at a CVS Pharmacy

On March 20, 2020 the first coronavirus drive thru testing site opened in New Jersey attracting long lines of vehicles. An NBC News article describes the scene: “Hundreds of cars, some with a single passenger and others packed with four, were lined up Friday morning at Bergen Community College in Paramus, located about 20 miles from Manhattan, to get tested for coronavirus, according to NorthJersey.com. The National Guard was brought in to assist state police with monitoring the testing site” (Burke).

When Covid testing was at its peak it was virtually impossible to find a location anywhere that had an opening. I remember trying to find a spot at CVS, Walgreens and Quest Diagnostics only to find they had no availability.

@1corporatemillennial

just as accurate as a rapid test, right? 🤒#corporatemillennial #millennialsoftiktok #wfh #9to5 #corporateamerica #workfromhome #corporatehumor #relatable #jokes

♬ umm.. yeah – andrew


The UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care provided a how to guide for self-swabbing when going to a drive thru Covid testing site:


Social Media Trends as of May 13, 2022

Facebook #drivethrutesting: people are posting about this
Instagram #drivethrutesting: 2,783 posts
TikTok #drivethrutesting: 178,800 views
YouTube #drivethrutesting: less than 100 videos and channels

Google Trends: drive thru testing appeared during the week of March 8, 2020 when Covid testing centers started to pop up across the nation. During the peak of various Covid waves, the search term spiked as people tried to find testing locations where there was still availability. The term peaked in Christmas 2021 when the Omicron variant was rapidly spreading everywhere.

drive thru testing search term

Sources:

Burke, Minyvonne. “New coronavirus drive-thru test sites open, drawing huge lines: ‘Not for the worried well.” NBC News. March 20, 2020. URL: https://www.nbc
news.com/news/us-news/new-coronavirus-drive-thru-test-sites-open-drawing-huge-lines-n1164771.

“Drive through testing”. Wikipedia. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_testing#Drive-through_testing.

Elly | Corporate Millennial. “When you can’t get a Covid test anywhere.” TikTok. 2021. URL: https://www.tiktok.com/@1corporatemillennial/video/7052491365678058758.

“How to self-swab in your car at a Regional Test Site or Mobile Test Unit.” Department of Health and Social Care. UK Government. June 16, 2020. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QawyKwIIfKQ.

Categories
Pandemic

Covalgia

A retronym describes a new word created from an existing word that is similar to the original form but has a slightly different meaning. In this case, Covalgia is a retronym of nostalgia which is an affection for some parts of the pandemic such as empty roads (if you had to commute), remote working (if you didn’t have to go back to the office) and not having to be around your coworkers.

Chris Rodgers quotes Jay Martel’s definition of Covalgia in this tweet:

For more on Covalgia, watch this video at time index 3:37.

Social Media Trends as of May 12, 2022

Facebook #covalgia: people are posting about this

Sources:

САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГ. “Lax Vaxxer with no covalgia | New Forward.” YouTube. June 21, 2021. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKXN6GoRZlk.

Martel, Jay. “A Lexicon for the Late Pandemic.” The New Yorker. June 14, 2021. URL: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/21/a-lexicon-for-the-late-pandemic.