As the student protests revived some words, breathed new meaning into others, and even enriched slang with new expressions
If we write "blockage", why do you first think of student blockades faculty? Or fifteen minutes blockade intersection?
They say that everything is in the language and that few things are more powerful than the language. And the language is alive, pulsating, meandering, changing, words and connotations get stuck in it, some never to leave, and some to soon fall into oblivion.
"We are witnessing that terms have different meanings compared to former periods, even though the terms are the same. They maintain social, political or economic changes," sociologist Dalibor Petrović tells us.
Everything is like the dialogue between Alice and Humpty-Dumpty in Wonderland:
"When I use a word, it means what I choose it to mean - no more, no less," says Zalud-Uzalud. "The question is," Alice retorts, "can you make words mean so many different things." Zalud-Zalud replies: "It's a question of whose to rule it - that's all."
Give me that plenum!
Political and social events shape the images that come to mind when we hear a word. While students marching to protests, the words "marathon" or "relay" sound different.
Just as, when you say "marathon", people usually think of the athletic discipline, not the Battle of Marathon from two and a half millennia ago. Or, as "relay" had different connotations in Tito's time.
And only "plenum"! That Latinism essentially means the largest possible set of all members. That's how it exists plenary session of the parliament, in contrast to parliamentary committees in which only some deputies sit.
"That word carries the memory of socialist times, as a form of political organization. In science, for example, it is used to present papers in a joint session. Today, plenums are talking about a new type of direct democracy," says Petrović for our newsletter Medjuvreme.
Students organize blockades through plenums. All students of a faculty may or may not participate in them. Decisions are made by the majority - but only those who chose to appear at the plenum.
Thus, the plenum became a counter to the student parliament, in which mostly students close to the authorities sit. Direct democracy tramples on directed, representative democracy.
The framework of capitalism
The somewhat archaic word "plenum" can remind us how much the language has changed in the general framework - capitalism.
"It shows the political transformation of the language." But it is often reflected in the economic transformation, especially in the transition from socialism to capitalism," says Petrović and gives examples.
When you say "action", people will rather think of discounts in supermarkets (which also give us discounts) than of some kind of common, joint enterprise, say a labor action.
"It is similar to the terms 'gallery', 'elite', 'farm', which refer to the names of shopping centers and reality shows, which speaks of the dominance of the media, materialistic, consumer society," adds this sociologist.
Hello, Dad!
Slang is getting richer even faster in the era of social networks. Thus, during the student revolt, the word Ćaci came into instant use.
And it started innocently, with someone using graffiti to invite the students of the "Jovan Jovanović Zmaj" gymnasium in Novi Sad to return to school. But, alas, he wrote the Cyrillic "ć" instead of "đ" and thus "disciples" became "deceased".
Ćaci quickly became a nickname for a regime bot who is bothered by protests. "While the students are on strike and block the faculties, Ćaci wants to study and pass exams." While students and citizens stand in silence every day at 11.52:XNUMX, Ćaci wants to pass because that's when he has urgent work to do," wrote our columnist Dragan Ilić recently.
The language of symbols is also changing. Today, a simple red glove means "your hands are bloody" because of the death under the canopy. The regime's attempt to connect red hands (gloves) with the symbols of Hamas was in vain - no one bought that stupid story.
Rekosmo, words and connotations know how to quickly get stuck in the language. It remains to be seen whether the new meanings have come to never leave or will fall into oblivion.
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