The Underlying

A slew of new words and expressions has entered our vocabulary in the past few months. Some come with clear-cut angles and marked spatial-temporal boundaries: lockdown, red-zone, quarantine, self-isolation, iso-pod. Others stretch into a hazy limbo – furlough – or combine into oxymoronic pairs – social distancing. Vital supplies nestle in unimposing acronyms like PPE, yet the word’s handy brevity does not make their shortages any less conspicuous. Meanwhile those who were previously deemed low-skilled are overnight upgraded to the status of key workers – but do not expect any improvement in pay or working conditions in return!