Thursday, March 28

From ‘hashtag’ to vaccine… A review of the words of the year of the last decade. Why were they important?


LIDIA CARVAJAL

Some have transcended and are still in force, but others respond to a specific phenomenon

Yolanda Veiga

We will have to wait until the end of the year, but it would not be strange if the word of this 2022 was war… or invasion. This is a review of our last ten years of history through which the most popular terms were chosen.

n the choice of the Urgent Spanish Foundation (FundéuRAE) of ‘hashtag’ as the most representative word of 2012 had to do with “the explosion of Twitter”, contextualizes Juan Pagola, head of the Communication degree at the University of Deusto. «With these labels it was possible to synthesize in a brief idea a broader meaning, a vindication… and it became visible at great speed. It was a successful question at a communicative level because it was impressive ».

Juan Pagola outlines the context of that year: “We are coming out of a very strong crisis and, at the same time, many cases of corruption are known, which is giving rise to a very powerful social protest.” Gerardo Meil, Professor of Sociology at the Autonomous University of Madrid, recalls that in these popular demonstrations of protest against specific people “the questioning of social and housing policy, evictions … had to do with it.”

An example of so many words of the year linked to technology that, almost a decade later, continue to have the same validity. “At that time it was closely linked to the evolution of sharing photos on social networks and today everyone does them,” confirms the Deusto expert.

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“That was a very turbulent year. It is the year of the wave of refugees from Syria and the problems of these people were socialized, “says Pagola. And she remembers that this could also be one of the candidates for this year’s word. Although Gerardo Meil ​​clarifies: «There is a parallel with what we are experiencing in Ukraine, but, in this case, the word would rather be solidarity, since the reaction generated by the invasion by Russia is different from the one produced with Syria. Then there was quite a social echo, in the municipalities banners were placed that read ‘welcome’, yes, but now it is different, solidarity is greater».

«It was the year of the explosion of the term and shortly after Donald Trump was elected, who is the greatest exponent of populism. Even the Brexit phenomenon itself is a bit of a product of that idea.” Juan Pagola also links the popularization of this word to the idea of ​​’post-truth’ and the phenomenon of ‘fake news’.

Aporophobia or fear of poor people was a term “quite punctual, unlike other words that have a deeper constant over time and continue in social discourse,” warns Gerardo Meil. The sociologist believes that today this term is no longer referred to because “there are no generalized attitudes of rejection towards the most disadvantaged population.” But five years ago it was different: “Its popularization is linked to the arrival of refugees in Europe and the appearance of far-right parties. I like the term because we confuse racism and xenophobia with aporophobia. And no, it is not hatred of foreigners that many feel. We are not ‘bothered’ by immigrants who come with money, but by those who arrive without resources and come to ‘shake’ our stability. That is the nuance of this word”, points out the specialist from the University of Deusto.

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“We talk about the climate crisis but we need to make it visible on very specific issues. And microplastics are something very symbolic, they give visibility to the problem”, considers Juan Pagola.

It is one of those words that we have incorporated into our everyday vocabulary. “With emojis we have established a parallel language. So much so that, when a new phenomenon arises, it doesn’t take long for the emoticon that represents it to be created as well.”

2020 and 2021

confinement and vaccine

«Before, epidemics raised mortality a lot, but we had long since settled in a situation regarding health characterized by the belief that there was no longer any possible threat. We thought that we had entered a different phase, but the pandemic has shown us that we are exposed, ”reflects Gerardo Meil. From confinement to vaccine there is a year… and a jump. “The social shock from the pandemic was enormous but, above all, the time we spent at home,” recalls Juan Pagola of 2020. “The fact that the following year the word of the year is chosen vaccine makes us see another brighter face of the pandemic, more linked to hope, but also to controversy and debate about individual freedom and collective responsibility».

And this year? Gerardo Meil ​​bets that it will be an invasion. And Juan Pagola agrees: “It will be something related to the war in Ukraine, although these words are usually chosen in line with the state of opinion in the last months of the year.”


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