Word of the week

Published August 13, 2016

Words are very powerful — so become empowered by enhancing your vocabulary! Check out this week’s word ‘Phubbing’, a new entrant to the Oxford Dictionary

Phubbing

(Noun, informal)

The practice of ignoring one’s companion or companions in order to pay attention to one’s phone or other mobile device.

Examples: Phubbing is just one symptom of our increasing reliance on mobile phones and the internet.

“Stop phubbing, and answer me.”

Youth is very much in phubbing as a result they are leaving behind their true friends and companions.

Origin: 2012, blend of phone and snubbing (from snub); coined by an Australian advertising agency as part of a marketing campaign for the Macquarie Dictionary.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 13th, 2016