brexit

Are Brexiety and flextensions finally behind us?

As the clock struck 11pm on 31 January 2020, Brexit became a reality and Brexiteers (supporters or architects of the withdrawal of Britain from the European Union) held celebratory parties across the UK. Remainers gathered too, brandishing placards mourning Britain’s departure and reaffirming their belief that the country… Read More

From ‘Brexiety’ to ‘prorogation’: how Brexit has changed the way we use language in 2019

Britain’s exit from the European Union has dominated the news agenda since 2016, when Brexit was nominated by Collins Dictionaries as its Word of the Year. 2019 was supposed to be the year that Britain finally left the EU. At the time of writing, however, that still hasn’t happened, in… Read More

Brexit, Trump, and celebrity deaths: the perfect storm of 2016’s Words in the News

On 28 December 2016, an independent comedy production company called Friend Dog Studios produced a mock-trailer of the year 2016 as a horror film. Though not everyone will agree, 2016 was a pretty bizarre year on the world stage. At the start of it, David Bowie, Prince, Carrie Fisher, Alan… Read More

Etymology Corner – Collins Word of the Year 2016

Brexit Surely the most significant event in British politics for many years occurred on 23 June 2016 when voters decided that Britain should leave the European Union. Even before departure from the EU became a reality, a new word had been coined to describe the act: Brexit. Brexit was… Read More

Another day, another handful of terms to add to our ever-growing list of Brexit terminology

New contributor iancim brings us Wexit, which he defines as “the possible withdrawal of Wales and England from the European Union” but there seems – not for the first time around this topic – some dispute about this. It may be used to make some nationalistic point (Cambrian or,… Read More

Brexit v Bremain: the Language of the EU Ref

Before Brexit, there was Grexit. But while Brexit (from “Britain” or “British” and “exit”) refers to Britain’s potential departure from the European Union, Grexit only hypothesized Greece’s exit from the eurozone. Almost as soon as Britain joined the EU (then the European Economic Community) in 1973, there have… Read More