Pandexicon: How the Language of the Pandemic Defined Our New Cultural Reality

Wayne Grady compiled a list of words coined by Covid, which is deftly woven into a journal/timeline to take us through two years of surrealism and limbo. This exploration of the many new terms of the Covid-19 pandemic provides insight into the ways an ever-evolving vocabulary helped us cope with our anxiety and adapt to a new reality.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 27 April 2023
Publisher: Greystone Books,Canada

When the pandemic struck in early 2020, Wayne Grady started collecting the words and phrases that arose from our shared global experience. Some, such as “uptick” and “pivot,” had existed before but now took on new meaning, and others, such as “covidivorce,” “quarantini,” “covexit,” and “shecession,” appeared for the first time, their meaning instantly clear. Through this new vocabulary, we became more able to adapt to change, to domesticate it in a sense, and to reduce our fears.

Moving from the very beginning of the pandemic (the “Before Times”) and our early response to it through the peaks and troughs of the various waves in countries throughout the world, and ending with a contemplation of what the “After Times” might look like, this book takes us on a journey through the pandemic and illuminates both how this new language has unfolded and how it has changed the way we think about ourselves and each other.

Weight: 406g
Dimension: 141 x 198 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781778400391