The first time I walked into a stranger’s e-cigarette was in the middle of a pandemic. So, as I almost jumped into traffic to maintain the government-mandated two-metre distance, I unconsciously noticed the sickly sweet cotton candy that had just come out of a passerby’s lungs. I dove straight into the smelly cloud. It was so strong and fruity that I almost had a sugar rush. Angry sugar rush.
In 2014, the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year was ‘vape’, with usage of the word increasing dramatically with the growing popularity of electronic cigarettes. Ten years later, many people are turning to e-cigarettes to help them quit smoking, but a recent survey of Irish teenagers found that a third of 13- to 16-year-olds have given up smoking. It turned out that he had never smoked before, but instead smoked e-cigarettes.
In 2024, to commemorate 20 years since the introduction of the smoking ban, the OED will need to add a word to describe the anger one feels after passing through a stranger’s crème brûlée-flavored breath. Fog smoke? Fruit Mist’s Rage? Vey plus? Angry vape?
It was in the height of Christmas frenzy in Dublin city center that a kind stranger held the door for me as I followed him to Dunn’s entrance on Exchequer Street. As he did so, he took a big puff from the e-cig machine. It was one of those big things that looked vaguely like a gun. Any goodwill he gained from holding the door quickly dissipated when a fruit-scented plume blew in his wake. It was giving it a very “smell like a school lunch box after leaving bananas out for two days”.
“It was giving,” or simply “it’s giving,” should have been listed as the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year for 2023. The phrase, which means something or someone is giving off certain vibes, has been around for a few years, but it’s only really taken hold in the last 12 months.
Like many slang terms, like “slay” and “yasss,” it likely originated in the black LGBTQ+ community. His actual OED word of the year was “rizz,” short for charisma. Despite being online, I was unfamiliar with this term and thought maybe they were terribly wrong. Later, while working on a radio recording, I met a transition year student on work experience. Luckily, he was trying his best not to grin as he explained that “rizz” is very common among young people. At that moment, I was giving away “Liz Zero’s Embarrassing Millennial.”
Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally’s world domination behemoth may need a term of their own this year. Maybe “Ghost Train,” considering their success was built on their podcast My Therapist Ghosted Me. His five sold-out nights at 3Arena in December drew 3 million listeners in the week.
Speaking of female leaders, will 2024 be the year that Ireland has its first female leader? The Old Moorish Almanac certainly thinks so, with the publication’s resident psychic predicting it will be a “difficult” year for the woman in question. I am currently trademarking “she-seach”.
‘Votology’ (the study or analysis of voting patterns, trends and behavior during elections) may be a little too close to ‘voting science’ to be popular in Ireland
AI will continue to scare and impress us, and questions to the ChatGPT tool will no doubt be shortened to “chat.” “Did you write that report?” “Oh, I was just chatting with you, just tell me.”
We asked ChatGPT to come up with some new words for 2024, and they came up with a pretty catchy term: “Zoomtown.” This is “a city or town that is experiencing a population surge due to increased remote work facilitated by virtual communication tools such as Zoom.” .
I also “chitched” on some new election terminology ahead of the US presidential election. While “Votevibe”, the collective emotions and moods of voters, certainly has potential, “voteology” (the study or analysis of voting patterns, trends, and behavior during elections) may be a little too close to acceptable. Leaving for Ireland.
I strongly advocate for the widespread use of “vapewrath”, if only to reduce the prevalence of massive gusts of vapor on every street corner. Fruity things are also a no-no, but mint clouds are especially scary. It reminds me of my father’s heroic quest to overcome his 40-year tobacco habit by replacing cigarettes with chewing gum. Packets and packets of chewing gum. result? Mint fart. Smell it to believe it.
ChatGPT suggests calling it “peppertoots,” but I prefer “mintwind.” How long will it be before we encounter Mintwind’s Vayplus for the first time? Probably sooner than she will come to her power.