Language change
We contribute to the effort to keep language in step with technology.
Language changes over time, something obvious if you read older writings. During one’s own lifetime the language will shift somewhat, even discounting slang (which is by its nature impermanent). Partly this is due to a natural evolution; partly, nowadays, it’s due to the need for words to cover new objects or actions, things brought about by new technology. Here we present our ideas for words now needed but not yet present.
Hesitext: that part of the delay between the traffic light turning green and the car moving that is attributable to the driver still paying attention to his or her phone, over and above human reaction time and mechanical effects. (We have seen a hesitext that lasted through a complete light cycle.)
Hesitoot: the sound of the driver behind a hesitexter notifying the latter that the hesitext has gone on too long.
Halfwait: the long pauses in a loud phone conversation carried out in a public conveyance, during which one forgets it’s going on, only to be startled by the next shout, cry, laugh, or other sudden noise. Sometimes applied to the person carrying on the conversation, as in, “I couldn’t get any reading done, there was this halfwait on the bus.” The conversation must be loud enough, and have pauses long enough, to startle. A loud conversation without pauses is said to be waitless (a word also applied to the converser).
Chatlow: the condition of being annoyed by the banal and pointless character of a phone conversation in a public conveyance or in a public place. Strictly speaking, the word does not apply to a conversation in which you are a participant.
Zombeyes: that flicker of the eyelids of a pedestrian smartphone zombie when he or she realizes that the pair of you are now too close to avoid collision and some action is necessary, or would have been if you (the non-zombie) had not already swerved.
Tellume: at night, the upward-directed glow that indicates a driver has been interacting with a smartphone. It does not apply to pedestrians.
Scooflower: the accidental installation-art that occurs when hired electric scooters are left on the sidewalk in disarray.
Blost: the loud, irregular sounds that occur when another passenger on public transport, or person in a public place, flips through posted videos on his or her device. It does not apply to steady watching/listening to a single video.
We invite further suggestions for technology-driven additions to our language.
