New Delhi: After a year of being swamped with infuriating and disturbing news, we finally have an official word to describe the experience of 2018. The Oxford Dictionary has declared ‘Toxic’ as the official word of the year, reported the New York Post.
The UK-based institution believes that ‘toxic’ best captures society’s collective experience in 2018. With words like “toxic masculinity” and “toxic relationships” finding their way into the modern lexicon, a lot can can be said of our contemporary ethos – but not nearly enough about the air we breathe.
Twitter users were quick to point out the adjective’s prolific usage in relation to the #MeToo movement and Donald Trump – perhaps underlining everything wrong with our world today.
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Borrowed from late Latin toxicus – meaning ‘poisoned’ and from Ancient Greek toxikón phármakon – meaning ‘poison for use on arrows’ – the word “has added more strings to its poisoned bow during 2018, becoming an intoxicating descriptor for the year’s most talked about topics,” a spokesperson for the dictionary said.
Over time, ‘toxic’ has transitioned from addressing the somatic to the psychological. In addition to talking about the toxicity in its literal sense, the word is now often used as a metaphorical descriptor for contemporary politics, society, workplace environments and cultures.
This year was rife with watershed political developments and social movements sparking widespread international debates. The Brett Kavanaugh senate judiciary committee was just one of such developments. It is against the backdrop of such disturbing events that ‘toxic’ has well and truly taken root in the public consciousness.
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‘Toxic’ can be seen as the genealogical successor of last year’s title holder – Youthquake, which is defined as ‘a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people’. As political and social tumult scaled up after 2017, what was already an acerbic discourse – finally metastasised into a toxic one.
Interestingly and on a slightly lighter note, Britney Spears’ 2004 pop song ‘Toxic‘ played a large part in spreading the metaphorical use of the word.
Other words contending for the top spot this year included ‘gaslighting’, ‘incel’ and ‘techlash’.