“Vaccination massacre”, “lateral thinker”, “systemically relevant”: In search of the “bad word of the year” in 2021, the topic of the corona pandemic dominates.
Marburg – A lot of Corona, little climate: The proposals submitted so far for the “Unword of the Year” 2021 primarily address the pandemic and its side effects.
The currently more than 600 submissions with around 300 different words are very corona-focused, reported Constanze Spieß, spokeswoman for the jury of the language-critical campaign. It is noticeable that, on the other hand, the topic of climate change is not so present.
According to the Marburg linguist, Corona dominates the proposals even more than in 2020. Currently, the vaccination debate is also reflected in the terms submitted. Words such as “vaccination massacre”, but also “lateral thinker” or “systemically relevant” were mentioned. Terms related to video-based communication were also suggested.
Other terms and voting
According to Spieß, climate-related terms have so far played a much smaller role. “That surprises me all the more because we have just finished an election campaign in which the issues of climate, climate protection, climate crisis and climate change were negotiated very centrally.” Terrorism”. Developments in the area of migration are taken up by the proposed term “pushback”, which was used in connection with possible illegal refusals of persons seeking protection at the EU’s external borders.
Interested parties can submit suggestions using an online form or by e-mail by December 31st, and then on January 12th the “Unword of the Year” 2021 will be announced in Marburg.
The campaign is intended to draw attention to inappropriate use of language and thus raise awareness. Words are reprimanded that violate the principles of human dignity or democracy, that discriminate against social groups, or that are euphemistic, obscure or misleading formulations. Proposals must meet one of the criteria, the frequency with which they are mentioned does not matter. Two “non-words” were chosen for 2020: “Corona dictatorship” and “Repatriation sponsorships”. dpa
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