So, what might the 2020 Word of the Year be?
During this Corona Time into which we've been sheltered-in-place, I pondered the possibilities, but first looked to last year's winner for insight.
In 2019, Merriam Webster named They as its Word of the Year. The dictionary defined the singular They as a pronoun referring to a person whose gender identity is non-binary. The gender neutral pronoun They would be used in place of He or She.
So what would be appropriate for 2020, the year of pandemic - the global crisis that dominates the news cycle and sucks up all the oxygen on the planet?
Two rather non-imaginative choices quickly came to mind - Covid-19 and of course, Corona. I ruled out Corona right away since it conjured up a 'meh-tasting' light beer - light in carbs, and alcohol as well. 2020 has become No Ordinary Time (1). It requires a designated moniker that is surely not 'meh'. How about Quarantine or Respirator/Ventilator, or Swab, or as Nancy Pelosi has advised, Test, Test, Test? Perhaps Social Distancing should be the winning expression. What about something with scientific mystique, like the alpha-numeric N-95? All these terms are tossed out daily and have become part of the vernacular.
Nope, these options are predictable and pedestrian. I continued searching, looking for another angle.
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| Social Distancing |
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| Social Distancing - big time |
Adjectives, that's it! I switched to consideration of this class of modifiers. Wouldn't Unprecedented or Draconian make sense? No. So far none of the words or expressions merited the Word of the Year's winner podium or even stimulated welcome production of viral antibodies. Then it hit me - ZOOM! Of course, it had to be ZOOM!
With social distancing colliding with the human need for personal connection, ZOOM's online platform is the new paradigm for connectivity. ZOOM is all the buzz. In just one day last week, the app was downloaded 275,000 times! (2) For the foreseeable future ZOOM-ing may be the new meeting up norm.
So how does one ZOOM? For anyone who has not already ZOOM-ed into a previously cancelled pre-Corona face-to-face meeting, here's one simple scenario.
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| Starting Scribble |
Aside from all the joyful pop-up opportunities my wife and I have each week to be with our two local grandkids, Thursdays have been the traditional day we pick them up from school and spend the entire afternoon together. Covid-19 abruptly put the kibosh on that, but ZOOM still lets us engage in real time. First we played Pictionary and then tried another enjoyable, creative game, Scribble. I start with a quick doodle-type stroke of the pen (see above), then its up to them to add their own scribble. Here's an example of their piggybacking on my scribble and my finishing touch piggy back on their creation:
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| Finished Scribble Creation |
The joint scribbling exercise put smiles on our faces and we continue to explore more ZOOM ways to reach out and touch one another. But ZOOM-ing has longer legs. ZOOM-ed connectivity also facilitates the critical ongoing work of repairing our broken world. Whether your mission is political activism, providing for those who are hungry, welcoming the stranger, comforting the lonely, healing the environment, or focusing on any other worthy need, Corona time should not handcuff you and halt doing the right thing. I will continue longing for pre-Corona warm, meaningful, and necessary human interaction, but for now, "it is what it is" and ZOOM is my WOTY.
PS: That said, if on occasion you still struggle, needing a morale boost or simply to chill from the burdens thrust upon you, remember what Jimmy Buffet and Alan Jackson crooned from Margaritaville, "it's always 5 o'clock somewhere". Of course, a few cold meh Corona Premiers may not suffice, but no worries, try this:
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(1) Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography of FDR during the war years
(2) Wall Street Journal - March 21, 2020
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