Life in the Times of Coronavirus

Life in the Times of Coronavirus - Our New Vocabulary

This article came in HT City today, 5 April 2020. It was at least there in the Gurugram version, so I assume it must have been there in the Delhi version too. Not too sure of the national reach. Though of course, most of these terms have international reach, courtesy our wonderful social media, which let’s face it, is probably the major reason for both maintaining our sanity, and at times not.

These terms are soon going to be part of our fancy dictionaries, i.e., as soon as publication of dictionaries resumes. Hmm, maybe I should check if the web versions, if they exist already have incorporated these. It’s funny, with the increased use of Google for searching the most basic of things, I have no idea how frequently Oxford or Websters update their lexicons, or whether with everything going digital, they even have a web version of their wonderful dictionaries. I only remember the various ones we had at home or carried to school, all in different sizes.

Anyway, I digress. The idea of this post wasn’t how our dictionaries were likely to change in the near future. I must try to focus on how our vocabulary is already changing in the current turbulent times.

Now I confess, I myself probably had heard of two of these terms before reading this article. I am probably not as into social media as I had thought I am. Blame it on not being active on Twitter I guess; Instagram doesn’t seem to be coming up with all this stuff. But it just made me realise how much all our lives are revolving around Covid 19 right now. And it does kind of make me sad, and a little bored at times too. I mean, frankly, I would prefer the bored to “covidcrazy”. It’s easier to handle bored than sad, or dejectet, no?

So, can we add covibored to this list? Bored of reading all this content? Use covibored. Bored of staying at home? Covibored. Bored of doing household chores? Covibored. Bored of using covibored? Covibored :D

My only hope? This new vocabulary isn’t here to stay. And our kids can go back to learning the original words, and maybe one day just forget that these terms ever existed. I hope the adults are fortunate enough to forget these terms some day too. Fingers crossed that this too shall pass. Fingers crossed to learning our lessons and doing what is right in the future. Fingers crossed to leaving a better world and a legacy.

PS- do let me know if covibored already exists. Google baba did not throw it up online

Comments

The Decade Long Journey - From Preschool and Daycare to Online Homeschooling

Almost 11 years ago, a mother and daughter set out with a dream - to set out on a journey and build something together. But, the million dollar question was, what temple would they build? What could they do together which would take both their skill sets to complement each other? And then it hit them - the mother-daughter duo would embark on a journey to support other mothers and fathers and their loved ones, their little ones. And so, after a period of much prep and love and labour, on 1 August 2011, Morning Glorie opened up her doors to welcome all little children and their parents, who were looking for a safe and loving space as they took the first steps towards their own new journey - a child learning to leave home for the first time to embark upon a learning journey, a parent looking to balance work with home, a parent looking to take the first step towards nudging their child into an unknown world. At Morning Glorie, we grew along with each of our children. As they r...

Decoding "Tantrums" - Why Do We Feel Embarrassed By Them?

Some years back (many more than I would care to admit to), I remember me and my cousins had gone out with our Aunt and Uncle and parents to the market. CP in Delhi as I recall, as posh as it could possibly get. My cousin at that point was a mere toddler, I may have been in my teens. As is quite common, not just with kids, but adults as well, he saw something in the market which he liked, and wanted. For xyz reason, he was refused. The result - he lay down in the middle of the shop, started crying, and refused to get up. By any stretch of imagination, this scenario is not an uncommon one. Parents across the globe experience it, not just with toddlers, but even older children. Barring the last year and a half, when kids have primarily been at home, we have in our last decade of experience at Morning Glorie's preschool and daycare in South City1 Gurgaon, had many parents come to us and talk about how their baby was likely to "throw a tantrum" if they did not get what they ...

Why Must Parents Focus On Developing Public Speaking Skills In Their Children

Public speaking is a crucial talent to have as an adult, and developing these skills at a young age is the best way to conquer the fear that surrounds it. Engaging with public speaking as a young person is one of the most effective strategies to let your child face their fears and prepare them for the future. Your child’s growth will benefit from public speaking in the following areas: Better communication Enhanced problem-solving skills Skilled thought process development Boost in self-confidence Morning Glorie’s enrichment program focuses on a holistic development process that focuses on your child’s language development skills and public speaking skills. Through the program, we take a unique approach of using experiential learning with which the child learns by constantly being active. For example, their speaking skills are developed when children talk and explain their learning from an activity. This helps them work on their communication skills which in turn is connected with deve...

Search This Blog