New buzz words, newfangled phrases and what was that word again?

New buzz words, newfangled phrases and what was that word again.

So far the relatively new century has given us plenty to talk about and think upon. There are those very knotty and complex issues that may never be resolved or explained properly. But this may well be life and we are now venturing into new territory. The language is much the same as it always was but quite recently the English vocabulary and grammar may have been ever so slightly garbled by the way in which our lives have now been completely turned upside down.

But the major source of contention is that in the last four years now, the English language has come under a potentially devastating attack from forces it can't quite control. Every decade, every generation has its quirky expressions, its mystifying phrases and what appear to be wholly incomprehensible buzz words, pithy cliches at times and no small amount of gibberish.

But hold on the English language is always receptive to strange, new word patterns since the language has always found itself in a constant state of evolution. We pick up words, absorb words like the proverbial sponge. Occasionally we get words completely mixed up in wildly funny malapropisms and sentences that don't quite scan once you've said them but are nonetheless memorable in their delivery.

Back in the 1960s of course the whole of London was swinging which led you to believe either that  London was lost in some nostalgic childhood playground or quite literally on swings. Or maybe it was cool, mainstream, up to date, modern, ahead of its time, revolutionary, go ahead and just the centre of the universe while the rest of the world was just sleeping. It could be that London was just enjoying change, that transitional period where everything was brand new and available on the open market.

Then of course London became far out and can you dig it man as if England had some of the world's foremost archeologists. Every generation brings with it a whole new selection of temporary catch phrases. If London did indeed swing during the 1960s then who is to argue that it simply continued to doing so throughout the 1970s when London suddenly became groovy and ten years later referred to the whole of the 1980s generation as wicked.

And so it is that we move right back to the present generation and today's novelties and oddities for this is what they seem to be. Since the beginning of the 21st century London's architectural skyline has come to be dominated by the Walkie Talkie, the Cheese Grater, the Gherkin and a rich variety of high rise structures that may or may not have disfigured its landscape. But words are not buildings. Words are flexible, multi-talented and are capable of any amount of verbal gymnastics. Words can be physical, vocally versatile and expressive. Buildings and words just stand on their own, open to interpretation and comment but never really do anything as such apart from provoking human reaction. But how important both are.

The point is here that over the last four years language has taken quite a severe buffeting, a good deal of bowdlerisation and no little tinkering, tampering and refining. Up until three or four years ago depending on your point of view, the world of the written word in books and newspapers was quite happily going about its business as usual Then almost overnight the English language was suddenly plunged into some weird and eerie darkness where vampires came out late at night and quite possibly evil spirits haunted us for the rest of our lives.

Four years ago former Prime Minister David Cameron announced quite boldly that he'd had enough of all those whinging, wailing, moaning and discontented people who simply wanted Britain to get out of the European Union. Britain had become totally disenchanted with all of those interfering busybodies in Brussels who just kept telling us what to do and following us around in their annoying droves.

There was a sense here that the whole of Europe was being too bossy and dictatorial, too tiresome and utterly disagreeable for our liking. So what did we do? We told them exactly how we felt about them, told them in the politest way that we wanted nothing to do with them at any time in the future and then told them to get lost. Europe was surplus to requirements, no longer relevant, a very dated anachronism.

Towards the end of the year a new Prime Minister Boris Johnson led the way in a radical departure from the EU which has yet to be digested by some but now seems like the right decision. When Cameron made way for Theresa May because he still wanted to be friends with those officious decision makers in Brussels, the English language changed dramatically overnight.

In roughly early 2017 and probably the latter end of 2016 Britain had adopted Brexit, a bright, shiny new phrase which had clearly been made up on the spot without any consultation from the British public. Now we've all become over familiar with Brexit for Brexit came to represent everything that would become anti Europe, politically controversial but blunt and self explanatory. Or was it?

For the next three years Brexit sparked off so many arguments, flare- ups and inflammatory comments from those on high and those who may have just wanted the quiet life that you wondered whether the subject would just run out of steam. But Brexit just kept going on and on interminably, posturing, pontificating, speechifying and just waffling because nobody seemed to mind and besides you couldn't beat a spot of rip roaring rhetoric.

But then Brexit fiercely divided Britain and families across the nation would do nothing but bicker, fall out with each other for days on end and then reluctantly apologise a couple of weeks later. There was never room for compromise here because Brexit was very trying, a repetitive, cracked vinyl record where the stylus had got irreparably stuck. Brexit eventually exhausted itself after a million references to Brexiteers who were neither on the left or right. Most of us were beginning to dread switching on either the TV and radio because we knew exactly what we were going to get.

And then when Boris Johnson had finally landed his dream job as Prime Minister of country things became much clearer and simpler. Johnson had also lost patience with his EU neighbours and was just desperate to sever his links with Brussels as soon as possible. So the soft Brexiteers and hard Brexiteers had a private party and together with Johnson waved goodbye to Europe with the most smug of grins. They told you they'd do it and they did. So there.

At the beginning of this year we thought we'd seen the back of barely incredulous grammar, newfangled phraseology and seemingly barmy words that had been joined up with equally as vague neologisms, word constructions that smacked of silliness. We giggled for a while before totally losing our way in a labyrinthine maze of complicated sentences. By the end of last year some of us were just gritting our teeth since the English language had been completely destroyed and taken away from us.

So it was that at the start of 2020 when everything had been resolved in Brussels, we settled down for just a very normal and ordinary year, the beginning of a new decade and nobody to bleed our ears with the same old blather and bluster. It was a time for recovery and rehabilitation, away from the fire and brimstone of sharp suited politicians with nothing but Brexit on their minds. What else was there left to talk about? We'd exhausted every angle. Surely nothing more could be said that we hadn't heard before. No point in pressing the same old chestnuts because those very chestnuts were getting on our nerves.

Little we were to know that lurking around another dark corner and ready to pounce there was something else to become very animated about. It was almost too good to be true. For a moment we were drawn into another world of complacency where nothing could ever upset or disturb us. Think again. The apparent certainties of life were about to be blown out of the water.

In January we were told us about some obscure outbreak of a disease that had stricken a cruise vessel and some illness in China which quite literally overnight became globally viral and astonishingly deadly at the same time. It had been burdened with a title that sounded like some crazy science fiction novel. Within a week the whole world knew about the coronavirus pandemic, a disease that would claim the lives of millions around the world.

Within weeks we were stuffing our supermarket trolley with dozens of toilet rolls, eggs and everything we could lay our hands on. We were scurrying around our homes, frantically devising improvised exercise routines, not going out at all in case something very bad and debilitating happened to us and a hospital ward would become a long term second home for the time being. Then it started and none of us knew why.

Before any of us could blink we were thrown into a torturous round of self isolating and self isolation before somebody came up with the ultimate classic. In early March and the rest of April and May we had to master the arts of social distancing. Now where on earth had that one come from. It sounded like the kind of reference that might have been dreamt up by some very imaginative university lecturer or a sociology teacher at the end of the 1970s. Perhaps it was the brainchild of a forward thinking geography teacher with patches on his jacket. It did sound too posh and just a touch too stuffy.

Still, here we are in the first couple of days in July and another literary gem has thrust its way into our consciousness. In what way did the world become inextricably drawn into a lockdown. The world is in lockdown and who were we to argue the point? Lockdowns was more or less an apt summary for a world that had been immobilised, incarcerated in our own homes and shut out from society for the foreseeable future. But lockdown suggested that somebody had thrown away the keys and we had been left to our own devices, not really knowing who to turn to and what to do in a restricted and straitened world.

So what to make of lockdown, self isolation and social distancing? Do we simply have to accept the status quo, become conditioned to the new normal or do we challenge the Establishment, take to the streets in vociferous protest, demand another revision of the English language, make it up as we go along or do we privately laugh at those eccentric wordsmiths who love playing with grammar? Be sure that when the coronavirus does thankfully pass over we won't have to wrestle with another awkwardly uncomfortable news agenda. It may be wishful thinking.