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The Latest Everyday Words

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I have noticed over the past months many English words that are for some reason being used more and more in everyday conversations whether for political reasons or a sign of the times. Personally I find the use of some of them rather stupid and annoying but then that is me 🙂

Here are some of them:

To be honest – This is used so frequently in conversation especially when a person is being interviewed, for example:

A person is asked – “what did you think of the football match last night?”

The person replies – “To be honest I thought the match was very good and exciting”

Why does he or she have to say “To be honest…..” are they not normally honest when they reply?!!!!

Wouldn’t a better way of answering be to say? – Frankly I thought the match……” or better still just get straight to the point and answer the question without ‘to be honest” or “frankly” at the beginning.

Nuance – Heard very frequently these days. It means  a slight shade or degree of difference, as in color, tone, or meaning.

I am pretty old in years but I can say that I don’t think I ever heard this word being used during my earlier years.

Sustainable – Everything it seems these days must be sustainable. A good definition I came across is:

Sustainable is an adjective for something that is able to be sustained, i.e, something that is “bearable” and “capable of being continued at a certain level”. In the end, sustainability can perhaps be seen as the process(es) by which something is kept at a certain level.
You will see on many company web sites amongst other places the frequent use of this word.
In my opinion there is nothing new about a product or objective having to be sustainable, this has and should always be the case where applicable.
Inclusive – The word inclusive means to include other people or another person.

Used a lot these days in terms of races, colour and sexual orientation.

Woke – The term came about in the 2010s, and, increasingly, it meant not only racial consciousness but also gender, as well as other discriminated identities, originally in the American context. In 2014  the phrase became popular by Black Lives Matter activists seeking to raise awareness about police shootings of African Americans. The term woke was increasingly used by not only black people but also white , often to signal their support for Black Lives Matter.
Some would define woke as US slang. The dictionary defines the word as: “Aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues especially issues of racial and social justice.”
These are some of what I would call new trendy words used a lot these days, none of which I use in my everyday life but will hopefully help people who are not very familiar with English which you might come across when reading English newspapers or watching television or hearing in conversation.

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