Flexing the lex, one search at a time

This year has been a roller-coaster ride, bringing with it drastic overhauls in not just economies and trade, but in language as well. As a result of Covid-19 and other global events, many new words have become part of the common lexicon.

Here are some words that people searched for the most, since the beginning of 2020:

■ Social distancing:

Remember those assembly meets in school where one-arm-distance was mandatory? It is that, but the negligence of this would have far grave consequences. ■ Global pandemic: A worldwide spread of a new disease, affecting more people than estimated. Did someone say cringe-binge? ■ Flatten the curve:

■ Implementing measures to delay the spread of the infection and lowering the number of cases per day.

■ Lockdown: We have heard enough of this word to not know what it means.

■ X AE A-12: The name of Elon Musk and his partner, Grimes’ son has several theories surrounding it, none of which have to do anything with PAN or Aadhaar numbers.

■ Infodemic: An information overload in times of a pandemic, often leading to unverified news generation and opinion formation.

■ WFH: Work From Home. An alternative to going to work, it is a situation where you can wear a formal shirt with shorts because no one would bother checking over an official video call.■ Quarantine and chill: A

spin on a pop-culture reference, it means to be comfortable at home while following all rules of social distancing.

Do we hear sobs?