Staying Woke* with New Words
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
Staying Woke* with New Words
English is a language of flux, always moving and shifting with the changes among us as we evolve. Each year, it introduces around 1,000 new words to represent the events, circumstances, and spirit of the day. Today’s cyber-centric existence makes it only easier for those new words to spread and multiply.
We thought it would be both fun and interesting to look at some words that have emerged, gained greater traction, or found fresh use in recent years. Some might be familiar to you; others may be additions to building a current-day hipster vocabulary.
| Word | Meaning |
| agender (adj) | not having an internal sense of being male or female |
| anthropocene (adj) | denoting the current geological age, in which human activity is the dominant influence on global climate and the environment |
| anytown (n) | a real or fictional place regarded as typical of a small U.S. town |
| aphantasia (n) | the inability to form mental images |
| app (n) | an application, especially one downloaded by a user to a mobile device |
| binge-watch (v) | to watch multiple episodes of a TV program in rapid succession |
| bromance (n) | a close but non-intimate relationship between two men |
| click bait (n) | provocative or sensational content meant to attract visitors to an online video, story, or website |
| illiterati (n) | people who are not well educated or well informed about a particular subject or sphere of activity |
| mansplain (v) | (of a man) to explain something to someone, often a woman, in a way considered condescending or patronizing |
| Word | Meaning |
| mic drop (n) | (metaphorical) dropping a microphone after making a final statement or an impressive performance to convey utter completion |
| mini-me (n) | a person closely resembling a smaller or younger version of oneself |
| pain point (n) | a recurring problem (as with a product or a service) that often inconveniences a business or its customers |
| photobomb (v) | to insert oneself into another person’s self-taken picture by appearing unannounced or uninvited in the scene |
| solopreneur (n) | an independent entrepreneur |
| textspeak (n) | language characteristic of the limited format and space of text messages, such as acronyms, abbreviations, initials, and emojis |
| they (n) | pronoun now expanded to refer to a singular person as well as more than one person |
| unfriend (v) | to remove someone from one’s list of friends or contacts on a social networking site |
| upcycle (v) | to reuse discarded object or material to create something of greater quality than the original |
| vape (v) | to smoke using an electronic cigarette |
The current day has also given us many other words to capture the zeitgeist, such as awesomesauce (great, really cool), hangry (upset because of being hungry), beer o’clock (the right time of day to start drinking beer), and whatevs (short for whatever). Only time will tell if such words remain viably dry on grammatical land or fade out to sea with words such as synergy and paradigm shift.
In the meantime, you can use them freely whenever you feel like making your current language more lit.
*(adj) aware of the facts, true situation
If the article or the existing discussions do not address a thought or question you have on the subject, please use the "Comment" box at the bottom of this page.
Thanks so much for this post. It clarified quite a lot. But I was hoping for explanations of hashtag and gaslighting. Can you add them to your next list, please? With much gratitude for all you do.
We appreciate hearing that the article was helpful. We’ll add the terms to our list for a future article.
Stay safe! I loved this one. Most of it made me laugh, and some of it made me shake my head (smh). LOL
Are you serious “they” to refer to a singular person… No…. please, noooo!
Yes, that day has indeed arrived, perhaps led by a swelling cultural urge to liberate people from constructions such as Each teacher must submit his or her syllabus by the end of the week. Though we recommend rewriting your sentences to avoid the singular they when possible, it’s here to stay.
We’ve written extensively on this topic:
How Did They Get in Here?
How Can They Be Singular?
Singular They Part II
Gender Pronouns: Singular They
At age 77, I’m really not interested in building a current-day hipster vocabulary.
But, Bill, your grandchildren are trying to talk to you! And learning new things keeps our minds young and alert (if one wants that).
What does woke mean?
As the post states, “(adj) aware of the facts, true situation.”