Situationship, bachelor’s purse, spicy cough and goblin fashion have all been added to the dictionary
Australians love slang, but those who aren’t up to date with the latest buzzwords can now catch up with a batch of new Gen Z favorites added to the dictionary.
The recently released ninth edition of Macquarie Dictionary, which bills itself as Australia’s national dictionary, includes words like situationship, cozzie, menty-b, bachelor’s handbag, goblin fashion, Barbiecore, spicy cough and the ick.
In total, 3,000 new words have been added, some you may have heard come up in casual conversation or online, but for others, an explanation is probably in order.
Situation is probably one of the easiest to guess and refers to a romantic or sexual relationship that is practical but informal and lacking in commitment.
Another dating term that made the list was ick, which is a concise term to describe the feeling when a potential romantic partner displays a characteristic that turns a person off.
The problem, when a potential romantic interest displays a characteristic that turns you off, is part of a collection of new words added to the Macquarie Dictionary (stock image)
A little harder to guess is the happy menty-b, which actually refers to a mini mental breakdown or seizure.
Goblin mode is used when a person “displays” a pattern of behavior characterized by an attitude of indolence and neglect.”
This one might pair well with the bachelor’s purse, which refers to a cooked rotisserie chicken sold in a plastic carrying bag with handles.
This particular term won Macquarie’s People’s Choice Speech of the Year, which was ultimately won by Teal, referring to the political party which positions itself as a greener version of the Liberals.
There’s Barbiecore, which refers to the pink fashion trend inspired by childhood toys, and now the billion-dollar box office hit film.
And then there’s spicy cough, which refers to the coronavirus.
Spicy cough, a light-hearted way of referring to the coronavirus, has found its way into the dictionary (archive image)
Macquarie editor-in-chief Victoria Morgan said recent years have brought a host of new words sparked by the Covid crisis.
“As a general rule, Australians like to play with language,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“If there’s something quite serious, like mental health or Covid, we seem to create quite light-hearted ways of being able to talk about things… We’re happy to put it out there.”
Morgan added that while the meanings of the terms can be found online, there was something special about opening a book to find them.
“I love the feel and smell of books,” she said.
“I think with dictionaries especially, you might be looking for something and then you come across all these things that are right next to it.”
