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Activist of the climate protection movement »Last Generation«
Photo: Filip Singer/EPA
The crises of the past few months dominate the search for the "nonsense word of the year" 2022. Among the more than 1,100 suggestions received so far, many terms refer to the Ukraine war or the climate crisis, reports linguist Constanze Spieß from the "nonsense word" campaign that Word since 1991.
Other topics are social policy, linked to the debate about the energy crisis and the corona pandemic.
The terms submitted include "special operation", "special assets", "free mentality", "hygiene walk", "climate terrorists" or "climate RAF".
The choice of the »non-word« is intended to draw attention to inappropriate use of language and thus sensitize the choice of words.
The jury, made up of language experts, reprimands words that violate the principles of human dignity or democracy, that discriminate against social groups, or that are euphemistic, obscure or misleading formulations.
Proposals must meet one of the criteria, the number of times they are mentioned is irrelevant.
At the beginning of the year, submissions related to the pandemic still dominated the selection, explains linguist Spieß.
With the Russian attack on Ukraine in February, however, that abruptly decreased.
Since then, there have been »a lot of submissions« from this area.
The jury of the language-critical "unword campaign" then wants to announce the "unword" on January 10, 2023 in Marburg, Hesse.
Last year they chose the word »pushback«.
In 2020 there were two "nonsense words" with "corona dictatorship" and "repatriation sponsorships".
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