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From 'cancelling' J.K. Rowling to 'eco-anxiety': 7 terms that took off in 2019

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Rosa Furneaux, Thomson Reuters Foundation

<p>LONDON - Author J.K. Rowling became the latest person to be &quot;cancelled&quot; on Friday in a row over transgender rights after the action signifying online outrage took off in 2019, along with terms such as &quot;girly swot&quot; and &quot;eco-anxiety&quot;.</p><p>Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, was both blasted and praised for backing a tax expert who was sacked over a tweet in which she wrote that people cannot change their biological sex.</p><p>The surge in the use of &quot;cancelled&quot; over the year came alongside increasing discussions over &quot;flight shaming&quot; and the use of &quot;they&quot; as a singular pronoun.</p><p>Here are seven terms that took off in 2019 in relation to climate change as well as women&#x27;s and LGBT+ coverage:</p><div><strong>1. Cancelled</strong></div><p>Celebrities from Kanye West to Bill Gates have been &quot;cancelled&quot; in 2019 as the internet expressed outrage at their actions or political views and vowed to withdraw support for the stars. The move, however, rarely results in real-world ramifications for superstars.</p><div><strong>2. Climate Emergency</strong></div><p>Oxford Dictionaries, a collection of online dictionaries produced by a publishing house of Oxford University, declared climate emergency its word of the year after seeing its usage soar more than 10,796%. Researchers said this demonstrated a shift in the way people were talking about the climate.</p><div><strong>3. They (singular)</strong></div><p>US dictionary Merriam-Webster picked the singular use of &quot;they&quot; to describe someone who does not identify as male or female as its word of the year. It said searches for that use of the word had increased by more than 300% this year.</p><div><strong>4. Self-partnered</strong></div><p>British actress Emma Watson made headlines in November when she told Vogue magazine she was happy to be single as she neared her 30th birthday, adding: &quot;I call it being self-partnered.&quot; The term went viral, both praised and ridiculed, even though the actress later said it was just &quot;a throwaway comment&quot;.</p><div><strong>5. Flygskam or Flight Shame</strong></div><p>Taking off in Sweden, home of teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, the term &quot;Flygskam&quot;, translated as &quot;flight shame&quot;, was coined in reaction to shifting attitudes towards air travel and the drive to reduce carbon emissions. Thunberg refuses to fly to events and other travellers are looking for more climate-friendly travel options.</p><div><strong>6. Eco-anxiety</strong></div><p>Oxford Dictionaries recorded a 4,290% increase in the term &quot;eco-anxiety&quot; in 2019, particularly among young people. The American Psychological Association defined eco-anxiety as &quot;a chronic fear of environmental doom&quot;, while mental health studies from Greenland to Australia revealed a surge in people reporting stress or depression about the impact of climate change.</p><div><strong>7. Girly Swot</strong></div><p>After revelations that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson referred to a predecessor David Cameron as a &quot;girly swot&quot; in a cabinet paper, the term was adopted with pride by women in politics and elsewhere to mean intelligent, smart, funny women. Sources: European Commission, Merriam-Webster, Collins, Oxford Dictionaries, Chinese Academy of Sciences, European Environmental Bureau, ReachOut, University of Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science, American Psychological Association, United States Patent and Trademark Office </p>

<p>LONDON - Author J.K. Rowling became the latest person to be "cancelled" on Friday in a row over transgender rights after the action signifying online outrage took off in 2019, along with terms such as "girly swot" and "eco-anxiety".</p>

LONDON - Author J.K. Rowling became the latest person to be "cancelled" on Friday in a row over transgender rights after the action signifying online outrage took off in 2019, along with terms such as "girly swot" and "eco-anxiety".

From 'cancelling' J.K. Rowling to 'eco-anxiety': 7 terms that took off in 2019

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From 'cancelling' J.K. Rowling to 'eco-anxiety': 7 terms that took off in 2019

Rosa Furneaux,

Thomson Reuters Foundation

Published Dec 21, 2019 05:30 AM PHT

Read More:

Cancelled

J.K. Rowling

self-partnered

Greta Thunberg

Girly Swot

they

Eco-anxiety

Climate Emergency

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