In a few weeks the corona virus twisted our habits and activities. Our movements are limited, the hierarchies of urban and domestic spaces have changed. In a changing world, language must also be renewed. These ironic neologisms try to tell this transformation.
The virus changed the world, the environment in which man lives and moves has profoundly transformed.
Envirusment: the surroundings and conditions in which a person lives and operates during a virus pandemic.
The pandemic has a global dimension: health countermeasures have been taken everywhere; it has become routine for everyone to wear gloves and masks.
Glovalization: A situation in which sanitation rules and hygiene behaviors gradually become strict and similar in all parts of the world.
With the quarantine streets are no longer noisy and busy.
Hush-hour: the part of the day when traffic in the streets is at its lowest.
The urban space, deserted and silent, is populating with new inhabitants
Zoorbanism: presence of wild animals within the urban environment.
The architecture of cities, with the coronavirus that threatens public health, must be rethought.
Healthitecture: the art and practice of designing, making and renovating buildings, in according with health and social distancing rules.
We go out rarely, just for the groceries, we don’t use the car. Finding a parking lot in congested cities is no longer a daily activity.
Carting lot: area of ground, usually connected to malls, supermarkets or shopping centers, where shopping carts are parked and stocked.
Many services and products are now delivered directly to our home.
Delivatessen: high quality food service that delivers goodies and delicacies to the customer’s home.
Some restaurants have transformed their space to continue serving their food.
Far food: restaurant where food is consumed quickly and without wasting time, with large spaces between a guest and another.
New sports activities, with a little attention, can be done outdoors.
Bleach volley: safe sports activity, similar to volleyball, played with a spongy ball soaked in ammonia or other chemical disinfectant.
Houses are also changing.
New furniture, new objects appear in homes.
Covinet: special cabinet for storing gloves, masks, disinfectants, contaminated clothes, shoes, and all the sanitary items used to protect people against covid-19.
Even the most normal actions, such as using a handle to open the door, can be dangerous.
Sociality has changed, we can no longer go out to meet friends in clubs and bars. The balcony is one of the few social spaces left.
Bal: balcony intended as space for distanced sociality practices and actitvities, especially between neighbors and housemates.
Squares, parks and streets are no longer the set, the background of our conversations. We meet our friend remotely staying home and using video call technologies.
Callground: the domestic background framed during video calls; the things that can be seen behind people during video calls.
In front of a computer we continue to take care of our appearance and our outfit.
Callfit: the set of clothes chosen to be worn during a video call, with special attention for clothing and accessories of the upper body.
Video calls become important social moments.
Dresscall: a set of rules that defines the appropriate clothing during a video call, generally agreed among the participants.
Even when have to go out and wearing a mask, we continue to take care of us.
Masquillage: makeup which fits and considers the protection face mask.
There are those who have managed to adapt very well to this new situation and basically have fun on the balcony.
Baltender: someone who spends a lot of his time on the balcony, in recreational activities or entertaining and talking with neighbors.
There are those who, thanks to the quarantine and the no-job situation, can finally take care of their pets.
Petired: person whose main activity during quarantine is taking care of its pets.
For some, like teenagers, it is not easy at all to be forced home for weeks.
Quaranteen: young person between the ages of 13 and 19 during the covid-19 crisis; boy or girl forced to spend long time at home during adolescence.
Not everyone manages to abide by the rules and stay home.
Overdogging: leaving the house more than necessary, with every excuse, not respecting the quarantine.
For weeks we have not been able to go out and look at our cities and their skyline. We can see just small pieces of our city from the windows of our homes.
Spyline: visual portion of the urban landscape that can be observed from a window.