For the past 16 weeks or so, lockdown has brought us many things.
Heartbreak, a new taste for WKD, the odd epiphany here and there, and the realisation that it is essential for survival to have at least 27k loo rolls in your home.
We all have our individual tales to tell and we have also experienced many things together. Love, support and the sickening reminder of inequality.
Throughout all of this though, opinions have remained.
One thing that has come to my notice that is truly collective, is that the world now has its own shiny, bright new language. On every level too. It’s universal and has remarkably traversed all the usual boundaries of gender, sex, class and culture. Even age.
As we all should know by now, we are either Millennials, Baby Boomers, a Gen Z-er or X-er and this obviously influences the way we speak to each other, as does where we work.
Throw in a load of other more complex factors and there you have it. A melting pot of wildly diverse, exclusive and inclusive chitter chatter.
Think film speak. A grip is someone responsible for building and maintaining the equipment that supports the cameras, it’s not something you do very hard when holding on to the last loo roll in the supermarket.
What Covid 19 has so generously and, speedily bestowed upon us, is a language used and understood by everybody. In homes around the world we now refer to the Covid generation, lockdown, staying safe, quarantine, self isolation, washing your hands, masks and PPE.
Finally, we are now truly united in one world communication, whether we like it or not!
Personally, I prefer my usual choice of words that I’m sooo invested in, that are MY LIFE, that make me lool and lool*.
I’m off to get litty**, the Manny*** way.
Cling, cling****.
*Lool – laugh outrageously out loud
**Litty – extremely lit up/drunk
***Manny way – as they do in Manchester
****Cling cling – ask Maya Jama what this means. I just thought it sounded cool.
