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Pandexicon: How the Language of the Pandemic Defined Our New Cultural Reality
Did you keep a list of the words coined by Covid? Wayne Grady did! They're deftly woven into a journal/timeline, taking us through two years of surrealism and limbo.—Margaret Atwood
This exploration of the many new terms of the Covid-19 pandemic provides insight into the ways an ever-evolving vocabulary helped us cope with our anxiety and adapt to a new reality.
When the pandemic struck in early 2020, Wayne Grady started collecting the words and phrases that arose from our shared global experience. Some, such as “uptick” and “pivot,” had existed before but now took on new meaning, and others, such as “covidivorce,” “quarantini,” “covexit,” and “shecession,” appeared for the first time, their meaning instantly clear. Through this new vocabulary, we became more able to adapt to change, to domesticate it in a sense, and to reduce our fears.
Moving from the very beginning of the pandemic (the “Before Times”) and our early response to it through the peaks and troughs of the various waves in countries throughout the world, and ending with a contemplation of what the “After Times” might look like, this book takes us on a journey through the pandemic and illuminates both how this new language has unfolded and how it has changed the way we think about ourselves and each other.
This exploration of the many new terms of the Covid-19 pandemic provides insight into the ways an ever-evolving vocabulary helped us cope with our anxiety and adapt to a new reality.
When the pandemic struck in early 2020, Wayne Grady started collecting the words and phrases that arose from our shared global experience. Some, such as “uptick” and “pivot,” had existed before but now took on new meaning, and others, such as “covidivorce,” “quarantini,” “covexit,” and “shecession,” appeared for the first time, their meaning instantly clear. Through this new vocabulary, we became more able to adapt to change, to domesticate it in a sense, and to reduce our fears.
Moving from the very beginning of the pandemic (the “Before Times”) and our early response to it through the peaks and troughs of the various waves in countries throughout the world, and ending with a contemplation of what the “After Times” might look like, this book takes us on a journey through the pandemic and illuminates both how this new language has unfolded and how it has changed the way we think about ourselves and each other.
317 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 7, 2023
1 person is currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Wayne Grady
50 books35 followersWayne Grady is the award-winning author of Emancipation Day, a novel of denial and identity. He has also written such works of science and nature as The Bone Museum, Bringing Back the Dodo, The Quiet Limit of the World, and The Great Lakes, which won a National Outdoor Book Award in the U.S. With his wife, novelist Merilyn Simonds, he co-authored Breakfast at the Exit Café: Travels Through America. And with David Suzuki he co-wrote the international bestseller Tree: A Life Story.
He has also translated fourteen works of fiction from the French, by such authors as Antonine Maillet, Yves Beauchemin, and Danny Laferrière. In 1989, he won the Governor General’s Award for his translation of Maillet’s On the Eighth Day. His most recent translation is of Louis Hamelin’s October 1970, published by House of Anansi Press in 2013.
Grady teaches creative writing in the optional-residency MFA program at the University of British Columbia. He and Merilyn Simonds live in the country north of Kingston, Ontario.
He has also translated fourteen works of fiction from the French, by such authors as Antonine Maillet, Yves Beauchemin, and Danny Laferrière. In 1989, he won the Governor General’s Award for his translation of Maillet’s On the Eighth Day. His most recent translation is of Louis Hamelin’s October 1970, published by House of Anansi Press in 2013.
Grady teaches creative writing in the optional-residency MFA program at the University of British Columbia. He and Merilyn Simonds live in the country north of Kingston, Ontario.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 25, 2023
More of a history of covid than a linguistic telling but all in all interesting. Gives a bit of perspective. Does not have to be read cover to cover, you can browse the entries.
April 10, 2024
I don't recall where I first heard of this book, but I know it was in the last month or so, likely on a podcast of some kind. Needing a book to fill the language category of my book club, this seemed like a timely fit, and promised (according to the cover) to describe "how the language of the pandemic defined our new cultural reality." Sadly, it did not fulfill that promise.
Although published in 2023, the book appears to stop in early 2022, in a world still partially or mostly living with restrictions (i.e. vaccine passports, travel bans, occupancy limits) – before the Freedom Convoy events of early 2022, the multiple booster programs, and more recent analysis and revelations. This made for some difficulty in reconciling some of the conclusions and perspectives, as much has changed in that subsequent period. Worse was the reliance throughout on popular "information" as the basis for what is known about the pandemic, with primary sources such as magazines, websites, newspapers, and blogs providing the majority of the sources (there is no list of sources or citations in the book, perhaps to mask the fact that these are less than robust). The result is a mash-up of facts, perceptions, and opinions (some very strident) that make this less a look at pandemic language and more about one person's observations, experiences, and political opinions. While there is lots of room in the book world for memoir and reminiscence about the pandemic experience, I felt a bit ripped off – having expecting (and been promised) a book about language and culture, I instead got one person's own self-satisfied ramblings.
The author clearly sees themselves as quite clever, witty, and astute. I didn't agree with them on those points and found so many specific points of dispute and question that I almost ran out of sticky flags. For example, in discussing the impact of lockdowns (i.e. any situation where people are encouraged or ordered to stay at home) on intimate partner violence (IPV) - a topic for which there is LOTS of legitimate information available - the author quotes an article from Lawyer Daily magazine from March 2020 (before any serious restrictions had even been contemplated or begun) as well as some survey data (with no citation) for May-July 2020, as the basis for several pages of discussion about the issue of IPV more generally, never really linking (or even showing) any increase as related to the pandemic. So why have this chapter at all? Similarly, the section on lockdown waxes on about the difficulties with using military or war language when dealing with a disease and suggests that the stay-at-home requirements and access and gathering restrictions imposed and enforced in many countries weren't really that bad, just temporary and short-term (and because of that were ineffective). This whole section was confusing and ambivalent, with still no clear understanding of what the term "lockdown" meant to people during the pandemic and afterwards.
Needless to say, I did not like this book. While I wanted it for the language category, it will more likely end up as my drivel book.
Fate: given how strongly I feel about it, I feel bad giving it to charity, but that's likely where it will go.
Although published in 2023, the book appears to stop in early 2022, in a world still partially or mostly living with restrictions (i.e. vaccine passports, travel bans, occupancy limits) – before the Freedom Convoy events of early 2022, the multiple booster programs, and more recent analysis and revelations. This made for some difficulty in reconciling some of the conclusions and perspectives, as much has changed in that subsequent period. Worse was the reliance throughout on popular "information" as the basis for what is known about the pandemic, with primary sources such as magazines, websites, newspapers, and blogs providing the majority of the sources (there is no list of sources or citations in the book, perhaps to mask the fact that these are less than robust). The result is a mash-up of facts, perceptions, and opinions (some very strident) that make this less a look at pandemic language and more about one person's observations, experiences, and political opinions. While there is lots of room in the book world for memoir and reminiscence about the pandemic experience, I felt a bit ripped off – having expecting (and been promised) a book about language and culture, I instead got one person's own self-satisfied ramblings.
The author clearly sees themselves as quite clever, witty, and astute. I didn't agree with them on those points and found so many specific points of dispute and question that I almost ran out of sticky flags. For example, in discussing the impact of lockdowns (i.e. any situation where people are encouraged or ordered to stay at home) on intimate partner violence (IPV) - a topic for which there is LOTS of legitimate information available - the author quotes an article from Lawyer Daily magazine from March 2020 (before any serious restrictions had even been contemplated or begun) as well as some survey data (with no citation) for May-July 2020, as the basis for several pages of discussion about the issue of IPV more generally, never really linking (or even showing) any increase as related to the pandemic. So why have this chapter at all? Similarly, the section on lockdown waxes on about the difficulties with using military or war language when dealing with a disease and suggests that the stay-at-home requirements and access and gathering restrictions imposed and enforced in many countries weren't really that bad, just temporary and short-term (and because of that were ineffective). This whole section was confusing and ambivalent, with still no clear understanding of what the term "lockdown" meant to people during the pandemic and afterwards.
Needless to say, I did not like this book. While I wanted it for the language category, it will more likely end up as my drivel book.
Fate: given how strongly I feel about it, I feel bad giving it to charity, but that's likely where it will go.
November 25, 2023
1.5 stars
I really don't know who this book was for. It's billed as a book on the language of the pandemic , and yet it's more of a dry, comprehensive history. He'll start with a word, a brief etymology, then launch into a pages-long ramble about a tangentially related aspect of the pandemic.
It JUST happened, so all this book did was make me depressed and tired of reading about COVID.
I really don't know who this book was for. It's billed as a book on the language of the pandemic , and yet it's more of a dry, comprehensive history. He'll start with a word, a brief etymology, then launch into a pages-long ramble about a tangentially related aspect of the pandemic.
It JUST happened, so all this book did was make me depressed and tired of reading about COVID.
April 11, 2025
DNF.
Like many of the other reviews say, this isn't what the title leads you to believe and the panini was too close for this to feel like a history. Maybe this will be interesting in 10 years or for a gen alpha research paper in the future.
Like many of the other reviews say, this isn't what the title leads you to believe and the panini was too close for this to feel like a history. Maybe this will be interesting in 10 years or for a gen alpha research paper in the future.
July 23, 2023
It is written to be read by The Coronababies... anytime from 2035 when these babies become teenagers...
For those of us who survived 3 years COVID-19, it could be redundant reading
For those of us who survived 3 years COVID-19, it could be redundant reading
November 6, 2023
An interesting look through the pandemic through the language that emerged. Well researched and thoughtful.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews