The author and writer Wayne Grady discusses his new book Pandexicon: How the Language of the Pandemic Defined Our New Cultural Reality (Greystone Books, 2023), with Joseph Planta.

Pandexicon: How the Language of the Pandemic Defined Our New Cultural Reality by Wayne Grady (Greystone Books, 2023). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Pandexicon

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Wayne Grady joins me again. He’s just published a new book Pandexicon: How the Language of the Pandemic Defined Our New Cultural Reality. He has a collected all the new words and expressions that began to appear in the media, scientific journals and everyday speech. He reflects on them, and looks at their origin, some going back to previous pandemics, or even earlier, like say the Bible. It’s a fascinating book because it takes us back over the last three years, and all that we’ve seen around us, and around the world. We’ve been through a lot, a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of time in limbo. There was a lot of worrying, and some of it was just surreal. The book is a good way to look at how we were as a society, through the language we share. Wayne Grady is the author of more than a dozen books of nonfiction, and three novels, including Emancipation Day, which he was first on the program with in 2013. He lives in Kingston, Ontario, where he joined me from earlier this week, as well as San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. This new book is published by Greystone Books. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Wayne Grady; Mr. Grady, good morning.

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