The Language of Social Change

By / Jessica Kirby, Editor

Shakespeare was a mad man with language. His work was so new, so celebrated, so fresh on the theatre scene, that when he came across a situation for which there was no explanation, he simple invented one and the vocabulary to go with it. Over his 20 years as a playwright, he invented nearly 500 words that are still in use today—bandit, critic, lonely, amazing, puking, anchovy, and elbow (as a verb) are just a few. Although it wasn’t uncommon to invent language at that time, few have created such a robust library of terms that have persevered into 2020, and that is because his work—timeless and accessible to all—created social change.

Fast-forward 400 years, and we can create a roadmap of societal change by charting the language that has changed with the times and affected our everyday banter. That road would take you all the way to 2020, when COVID-19 has changed the landscape of language, so much so that my favourite dictionary blog (Yes, there are several, and I read them. Don’t be jealous.) posted the following:

As the spread of the disease has altered the lives of billions of people, it has correspondingly ushered in a new vocabulary to the general populace encompassing specialist terms from the fields of epidemiology and medicine, new acronyms, and words to express the societal imperatives of imposed isolation and distancing. It is a consistent theme of lexicography that great social change brings great linguistic change, and that has never been truer than in this current global crisis. —Oxford English Dictionary public.oed.com/blog

The interesting thing to note, however, is that the new COVID vocabulary isn’t “new” at all, at least not in the literal sense. We haven’t invented any words, like Shakespeare did; we have invented new meanings.

For example, any of you business owners working from home (WFH, actually, which was first asserted as a noun in 1995 and as a verb in 2001), might be in self-isolation (a 1934 term) or self-isolating (1841), which today means something far different from its original application to countries which chose to detach politically and economically from the rest of the world. This might be part of a shelter-in-place order (a 1976 term used to direct the public in the event of a nuclear or terrorist attack), or you may just be taking social distancing to the extreme—but not as extreme as its 1957 meaning, which was to behave in a deliberately aloof manner and distance oneself socially (rather than physically). All of this would be, of course, in response to the coronavirus, a term used since 1968 and so-called because the virus resembles a solar corona.

Another word that has changed meaning is pivot—a term from the 1600s, which meant “a pin on which a wheel or other object moves” or a 1900s term in basketball—now refers to a switch in operational direction often made in response to external stress or pressure. The BCWCA’s training centre, for instance, pivoted to cancel classes when necessary, learn new software in preparation for online learning, and restructure the classrooms to maximize sanitation, which no longer means mental soundness (but certainly relates during times like these). Learn more on page 6.

Of course, the construction industry has always been a resilient entity with the men and women who make it a success committed, strong, and resilient. They “bounce back, returning to their original form” not in the literal way first invented in the 1700s, but in a figurative way that describes grit and continuity of effort despite setbacks. Because of this, the industry as a whole had remained relatively unscathed (the only way to be scathed in the 1800s was to be destroyed by fire or lightening) and will likely remain moving forward into 2021, when experts agree a vaccination (named after the cow puss used to prove the efficacy of cowpox as a vaccination for smallpox in the 1700s) will be available. Learn more about how well the industry has fared on page 9.

And finally, we look at the feature on page 13, which looks at agile leadership. Agility has referred to quick, nimble, motion since the 1640s, although at the time it meant more a physical motion than a figurative one, such as quickly and nimbly leading one’s company out of crisis—a vitally important or decisive state of things, the point at which change must come for better or worse.

While you peruse the issue and enjoy the stories, be sure to consider sending me your COVID success and struggle stories. I am interested in what you did to pivot, how you showed resilience, and how you are looking to the future. ▪