{"id":9571,"date":"2021-12-31T01:27:51","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T01:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=9571"},"modified":"2021-12-31T01:27:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-31T01:27:51","slug":"corona-bubble-and-doomsday-scrolling-new-swedish-word-list-for-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/corona-bubble-and-doomsday-scrolling-new-swedish-word-list-for-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Corona Bubble and Doomsday Scrolling – New Swedish Word List for 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Phil Desforges on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

At the end of each year, Spr\u00e5kr\u00e5det<\/em><\/a> and Spr\u00e5ktidningen<\/em><\/a> collaborate to release a Swedish nyordslista –<\/em> new word list! These new entries to the Swedish language typically reflect social trends, movements, cultural phenomena, and disasters. Unfortunately, 2021\u2019s nyordslista<\/em> is a spitting image of the strange and stressful year we\u2019ve endured – half of the words are thanks to the pandemic. Although this year’s list may be gloomier than usual, studying these words will give you a pulse on contemporary Swedish language.<\/p>\n

Spr\u00e5kr\u00e5det and Spr\u00e5ktidningen<\/em><\/h2>\n

Spr\u00e5kr\u00e5det<\/em> is a part of Institutet f\u00f6r spr\u00e5k och folkminnen<\/em> (The Institute for Language and Folklore), a government agency that works to preserve and research the languages and cultures of Sweden. Spr\u00e5ktidningen<\/em> is a publication covering all things Swedish language, its history, new words, and grammar controversies. These two institutions work together to accept suggestions for the nyordslista<\/em> and use a team of spr\u00e5kforskare<\/em> (language researchers), journalists, and linguists to curate the final list.
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Pandemi \u00f6verallt! \/ <\/em>Pandemic everywhere!<\/h2>\n

As I mentioned earlier, about half of the 36 words that debuted in 2021 are pandemic-related. From medical fackspr\u00e5k <\/i>(technical language) like a<\/em>nosmi,<\/i> the absence of smell, and genombrottsinfektion<\/i> (breakthrough infection) to the English influenced terms like coronabubbla<\/em> and coronahund\u00a0<\/em>(corona bubble and corona dog), these words went viral in Swedish too (bad pun, I know).<\/span><\/p>\n

Read “Corona Pups: Swedish Dog Vocabulary”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kultur och samh\u00e4llet \/ <\/em>Culture and society<\/h2>\n

Words like giggare<\/em> (gig worker) and hybridarbete<\/em> (hybrid worker) reflect changes in the modern workforce. With work meeting and social gatherings moving to video streaming platforms like Zoom, zoomtr\u00f6tthet<\/em> (zoom tiredness), made its way into colloquial Swedish. Speaking of screen time, domedagsskrollande<\/em> (doomsday scrolling), refers to the concept of obsessively scrolling to read news, especially the negative stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n

A gangfluencer <\/em>is a person who uses their social media following to share their gang activity. This new word strikes a sensitive chord with Swedes as concern about gang violence grows. Just this fall, 19-year-old rapper Ein\u00e1r was shot and killed<\/a> in Stockholm.<\/p>\n

Nyordslista 2021 <\/em><\/h2>\n

Anders Svensson is Spr\u00e5ktidningens nyordsredakt\u00f6r <\/em>(editor-in-chief) and interviews spr\u00e5kforskare och lektor <\/em>(language researcher and lecturer) Lena Lind Palicki and Spr\u00e5kr\u00e5dets nyordsredakt\u00f6r<\/em> Ola Karlsson in a podcast episode. Hear what they have to say about the lexicon of 2021, what it means for Swedish, and opinions regarding English l\u00e5neord<\/em> (English loan words) on Spr\u00e5ktidningen’s website.<\/a><\/p>\n

The full list of Swedish words and their definitions is below:<\/p>\n