Is choosing the word of the year a sizeable task? Does it carry prestige for those involved? Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year for 2021 is unsurprisingly "Vax". I expect they did a google search and were done.
The BBC would consider this a prestigious activity as their headline in November was: "Vax declared Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year." I can hear the bells ringing at noon on November 1st, 2021. The word is out!
The OED senior editor is Fiona McPerson and what was her official comment? "Vax was an obvious choice as it has made the most striking impact." I don't think it takes a senior editor to determine that vax was seldom used until 2021.
You likely know that tax comes from the Latin word vac, which means cow. According to the OED, this is due to English physician and scientist Edward Jenner's pioneering work on vaccination against smallpox using cowpox - a mild infection that occurs in cows - in the late 1790s and early 1800s.
The more interesting story is that the first anti-vaxxers through they would give birth to half-cow babies. That was in the early 19th century when British people finally had access to the first vaccine in history, which was for smallpox. That was a deadly disease.
The anti-vaxxers went to great lengths: the injection of cow material into a human body could cause a person to begin to resemble a cow, sprouting actual horns out of his head and hoofs in place of feet. And so on. What won out then was mandatory vaccinations that lead to the massive drop in cases and deaths, without resulting in any cow-babies. We don't know what will happen this time. I guess the advice would be: stay tuned.
And the word of the year amongst other experts - Collins Dictionary's word of the year is NFT - non-fungible token. Something that has caused a great stir, but not likely to lead to riots.
Distortion is the subject of our images today - decorations from the Fantasy of Trees to create some swirly abstracts.
