I'm checking out this article from 2020 during the time of the first worldwide Coronavirus lockdown. Remember that?
The article covered then-newly emerging Covid slang in Australia and speculating its longevity. The article also showed how extraordinary times make for creative language, citing examples from the past of what Aussies did with our form of English when we were 'up against it'.
Some examples of Covid-related terms in use in Australia at the time were:
😷 Rona
Short for 'coronavirus'. Example: She's coughing so much that I think she has the rona.
😷 RAT
The acronym for 'rapid antigen test' and said as one word. Example: The local chemist ran out of RATS.
😷 Iso
Short for 'isolation'. Example: He's caught the rona so he's in iso for the next fortnight.
😷 Sanny
Short for 'hand sanitiser', one of the must-have items of the pandemic.
😷 Quazza
Yet another Aussie diminutive, this time for 'quarantine'.
😷 Magpie (v)
To snatch up desirable staples in a supermarket, such as toilet paper or pasta. Example: This guy came in and magpied all the loo paper!
😷 Covidiot
An insult for someone who disregards health and safety guidelines. Example: I don't get how all those covidiots could gather like that.
😷 Quarantini
A homemade cocktail prepared while in home quarantine.
😷 Coronacoma
Another name for the shutdown period, or the long, luxurious sleeping opportunities newly available to some in quarantine.
😷 Coronacation
Making the most of a forced pandemic-related staycation.
😷 Coronababies or Coronials
Children conceived during lockdown.
The question posed then was 'so what will come of these creations?' As predicted, the vast majority of these terms were a product of its time that come the end of the pandemic, most fell victim to 'verbicide', as many slang expressions do.
Interestingly, out of these Aussie Covid slang terms, it was 'rona' that went global. Rona first appeared in the first week of the worldwide lockdown in March 2020 in a media post part-jokingly predicting Covid-related slang terms Aussies will come up with. Somewhat unexpectedly, 'rona' did take off in Australia, and later made its way to the UK and North America.
Let's hope that we don't have another pandemic to create new slang to go with these ones.
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