THE IDIOMATIC VOCABULARY OF THE PANDEMIC

Abstract

A pandemic was declared last year, and it has changed our lives forever. It has resulted in many unusual but necessary actions and measures and Coronavirus has led to an explosion of new words and phrases, both in English and in other languages. Language is meant for communication. Communication can have literal and figurative meanings. Idioms are a type of figurative language. They do not always and necessarily make sense literally. Learning idioms is fun, especially when you compare English idioms to the idioms in one’s native language. English is a language particularly rich in idioms and they were extremely used in the present health circumstances as this new vocabulary helps us make sense of the changes that have suddenly become part of our everyday lives. Linguists are analysing these idioms and metaphors with a special attention paid to how effective they really are in encouraging compliance with public health advice, as well as issues of translation, and access to healthcare. The paper intends to present some of the most frequent expressions, idioms and perhaps metaphors that piled up in the very recent vocabulary.