There are some new uses for old words in our corporate lexicon that very well could outlast the global pandemic. As both Xerox and Kleenex have become synonymous with the products they represent, the word “zoom” is having its moment.
Rather than its (not very often used) dictionary definition of traveling somewhere fast, “zoom” means something very different in 2020. Let’s Zoom has come to mean join a video meeting wherein we awkwardly stare at our own or each other’s faces while we test fake backgrounds and hope that something interesting happens in our co-Zoomers’ (Zoomies?) background, like a spouse, cat, or child Zoombombing. Merriam-Webster, take note on “Zoombombing” for next year’s crop of new words.
