Irish Examiner view: Permacrisis earned its place in the dictionary

From war in Ukraine and the long shadow of Covid to housing and cost-of-living crises and political turmoil across the water — the Collins Dictionary word of the year rings true for us all

Permacrisis ('an extended period of instability and insecurity') has echoes of 2012's omnishambles, memorably coined in Armando Ianucci's comedy series, 'The Thick of It'. File picture: BBC

There have been plenty of contenders for word of the year popping up in the last twelve months. “Quiet quitting”, with its sinister implications for workers everywhere, was surely a strong option for a term to sum up our current obsessions and interests.

The Collins Dictionary, however, has plumped for “permacrisis” as the word which encapsulates 2022, and even with a couple of weeks to New Year’s Eve it’s difficult to see a more apt term.

The word has echoes of “omnishambles”— a neologism from the TV political comedy The Thick of It — but that term suggests a sudden, calamitous mess rather than our current situation, one of low-grade yet insistent difficulty, throbbing away like a headache.

Whether it’s Covid and its consequential lockdowns, the cost-of-living crisis, the war in Ukraine, the homelessness and accommodation problems in Ireland, or the political turmoil across the water — in both the US and the UK — as well as the ongoing climate emergency there is no shortage of problems confronting us.

BREAKING NEWS The Collins Word of the Year is… permacrisis.

Find out more about #CollinsWOTY 2022 and see the full list here: https://t.co/gmsnCqA0yv#wordoftheyear #CollinsDictionary #permacrisis pic.twitter.com/sorHPfjG7D

— Collins Dictionary (@CollinsDict) November 1, 2022

 

However, that sense of turmoil exists at both the local and international levels, helping to contribute to a sense of unrelenting stress for everyone.

The usual cliché for describing such a sense of crisis is the old Chinese proverb about wishing your enemies live in interesting times.

Our sense of permacrisis means this was rarely truer, and as a particularly apt description the term rings true far beyond the corridors of power.