After last months piece about TikTok I thought this month I would digress from technology towards language. Keeping up with the latest Lingo can be tricky. With 2 teenagers in the house I have an advantage of getting definitions for new words on tap. However not everyone has the pleasure (challenge?) of teens, so I thought I would add some definitions here. I often ask Google for definitions of words by typing the word define before the word I want to know the meaning of. Or “Hey Google what does … mean?” on my smart speaker. But, a really good source of information is www.urbandictionary.com. However, like every source on the internet don’t treat the responses as absolute truth.
I was recently introduced to the term Karen. Karen is a derogatory term used to describe a middle-aged woman, who makes solutions to others’ problems an inconvenience to her although it doesn’t really affect her. For example, complaining about not being able to park outside a shop because of new parking safety restrictions following an accident that killed a pedestrian.
Woke is another term. This is the act of being pretentious about how much you care about a social issue.
A very topical word is Rat Licker. This is a person who refuses to wear a mask and refers to the days of the bubonic plague which was spread by rats.
Gaslighting is a verb becoming increasingly common. This is a form of intimidation where false information is presented to the victim, making them doubt their own memory, or sanity. This then has the gradual effect of making the victim anxious, confused and less able to trust their own memory or perception. An example is moving someone’s keys or purse, then claim they were never moved, or the person had done it themselves and forgotten.
On a final note, I wanted to let you know that I am doing call outs to homes and businesses as well as remote support. I am following government guidance with regards to social distance, mask wearing and hand washing.
Safe ‘Putering
Caroline The ‘PuterTutor
