What do the words chillax, overthink, catastrophizing, bargainous and staycation have in common? Aside from the fact that they all have a red line beneath them in Microsoft Word. Well, until recently these words weren’t recognised by the Oxford English Dictionary. In 2010 all that changed, and along with 34 other words, they were added to the premier dictionary of the English language.
Some of you may (or may not, depending on how often you check Gradulthood) have seen that yesterday, on ‘Tweet of the week’ I mentioned an article from the Graduate View section of the Guardian Careers website called ‘My top 5 grad fears’. Initially I saw this article, had a quick skim through it, enjoyed the content, re-tweeted it, and didn’t think any more of it. Only a few days later did I realise the full implications of the article. Let me explain.
The article was written by Nathan Minnigham - a 3rd year Politics and Philosophy undergraduate at the University of Liverpool. What makes this article special is that he decided to include the term gradults! Admittedly, the Guardian recognised it wasn’t a real word, so it was more like ‘gradults’, but still. Wow. I assume Nathan must have come across this blog at some point, and may for all we know be a regular reader. Here’s the section of the article I’m referring to:
What if I make the wrong career choice?
This is a general concern for every graduate unless they are lucky enough to be dead set on a particular career goal. A myriad of blogs written by 'gradults' talk about either being grateful to get any job at all, or being highly stressed or unhappy with the job they have.
Will making the wrong career choice at the start affect your chances in the future? In the current graduate job market, there is a lot to be said for being accepted onto a graduate scheme at all. What options are there for those who find the ideal at odds with the reality? When having any job can mean security and there are a hundred others willing to take your place, is it a case of stop whingeing and get on with it when grad life ain't so sweet?
They even included a hyperlink! We’ve actually had quite a lot of traffic from that link, so I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but to return the favour I’ve included 5 links to various areas of the Guardian website from this article, which I’m sure they’ll appreciate, and they’ll probably notice their traffic go up a fair bit…
It makes me very happy to think that people are starting to use our word, and hopefully one day the world will feel ready to remove the apostrophe and put gradult in the Oxford English Dictionary. That’s the dream anyway.
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