The dictionary is getting bigger. New words for a New Year.

Consulting Partner John McCarron on some of the words that cut through the noise in 2022, and what we might expect in terms of new coinings for 2023.

How was your 2022? Did you spend it in a ‘permacrisis’? Were you one of the workforce’s ‘quiet quitters’, or did you lose yourself in the guilty pleasures of going full-on ‘goblin mode’?

Each year, lexicographers and search engine analysts declare their words of the year. From new words (like 2022’s ‘lawfare’ for litigation lovers) to old words with new meanings (like Australia’s word of the year ‘teal’ for middle of the road politicians: neither red nor blue). Some of these new entrants to our dictionaries are faddish, picked on by subeditors answering movie producer Sam Goldwyn’s plea: “What we need are some new clichés”.

But others speak to the heart of language as it evolves new ways to describe new phenomena. These words capture the ‘vibe shift’ (another of 2022’s top 10 words) of their times.

What is striking is the difference between these pithy, resonant new words and the length of their definitions. They do what language – and branding – is great at: packing meaning into short, imagination capturing, shareable words. For would-be Word of 2023 winners and for brand owners, the talent lies in coining new, ownable terms that are self-explanatory. Ownable Intellectual Property is great, but not if you have to spend time and money explaining what you mean.

So as we leave ‘partygate’ behind us and enter our first ‘Carolean’ (vs Elizabethan) year, what will 2023 add to our vocabulary? Assuming the permacrisis isn’t going away any time soon, maybe we’ll all realise we’re in it together and share a ‘joybomb’ (an unexpected gift given to a stranger) or two. What’s your word for 2023? The Heavenly lexicographers are waiting for entries….