Isn't it natural that a one-off pandemic should spring up some equally unique expressions?

Lockdown may have beaten several words, including quarantine, self-isolation, social distancing, super-spreader, and the likes to be named as the word of the year. But there are quite a few neologisms, brought about by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic which is in heavy rotation as well. Let's take a look.

Covidient

Let's start on a positive note. There are people who are following all the Covid protocols – be it their own countries' government or the emerging International health organisation's directives – to the 'T'.

Their strict adherence has earned them a nice tag.

Covidient = Covid + Obedient

Covidiot

Take the above person and churn him through a cyclotron of stupidity, and you will arrive at this personality type. They will blatantly flounce – knowingly and or unknowingly all the standardised precautions.

Covidiot: Covid + Idiot

WFH

This is one good term that has been brought about by the ongoing pandemic. It gives quaint respectability to those who are part-time workers and/or freelancers.

With many big-name companies deciding to continue with this method of working and/or resorting to a hybrid process of combining online and offline work modes, WFH, may well still be in circulation long after the Covid has been decently tamed.

WFH: Acronym for 'Work for Home'

Coronaspeck

Holed up in a near sedentary life for about 10 months, many resorted to emotional eating to counter the stress. And with not much of exercise opportunities available, most ended up with an enlarged girth. This term takes a cue from a German word that roughly translates into 'sorrow fat'.

Coronaspeck: Corona + kummerspeck.

Zoom-Bombing

Almost overnight, the online video-conferencing facility, zoom, became a buzz word. Everyone hitched onto its bandwagon to conduct the remote meetings. They clearly were not prepared to handle the spike. Taking advantage of its initial shaky algorithm, uninvited guests began to take hostage over the proceedings. This began to be known as zoom-bombing, the predicate being borrowed from another neologism, photo-bombing.

Zoom-Bombing: Zoom + Bombing

Zumping

If Zoom was being used to do most of the important human interactions virtually, then why not dump your non-working out half over it. And when quite a few of them happened over and over, zumping came into being.

Zumping: Zoom + Dumping

Maskne

Though we would partially cover our faces now and then for various reasons, the pandemic made its usage a necessary affair. Some started developing acne mechanica because of the frequent and extended usages.

Maskne: Mask + Acne