The 2024 edition of the French dictionary includes a few new words related to digital uses. The opportunity to retrace the news of the sector in recent months.
The update of the 2024 edition of Petit Robert, the dictionary of the French language, has been unveiled by Franceinfo this Tuesday, May 9. As with each new edition, the 150 or so added words testify to changes in society as a whole. And digital is no exception: by listing the new “tech” entries in the dictionary, we trace the strengths of recent years in the sector.
Here is a term that has monopolized digital news: the “metaverse”, this virtual reality-based space that Facebook has made its hobbyhorse by renaming itself Meta. From then on, a very large number of companies, including French ones, had thrown themselves on the concept – sometimes giving rise to communication stunts as innovative as they are comical. Since then, the soufflé has largely fallen, innovations have slowed down, and only the massive expenses and losses of those who have tried it remain.
Almost inseparable from the previous one, the term “cryptoart” has also been added: it is a form of digital art linked to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which makes it possible to make authentic and unforgeable the property of a works to an individual. The enthusiasm for the metaverse had notably pushed cryptoart. If the latter generates extremely polarized debates – utility, environment, scams – the term has nevertheless become an inevitable part of the digital world.
Also in cryptos, we find “cryptocurrency mining”, which illustrates the fact of offering a service to a cryptocurrency, in particular in exchange for an income.
Instagrammable, ghoster, infonuagique
Le Petit Robert also includes the term “instagrammable”: an instagrammable place is quite simply a photogenic place. The term comes from the social network Instagram, which is dedicated to photos and videos. Some so-called “instagrammable” tourist places are now relayed so much on social networks that they are victims of overcrowding and nuisance. This is for example the case of tulip fields in the Netherlands, certain cultural centers in Nepal or even, closer, the famous rue Crémieux in the 12th arrondissement of Paris.
Two other terms related to web cultures are also entering the dictionary: “ghoster” which comes from “ghost”, phantom in English, which consists of stopping giving news to someone overnight.
We also find “spoiler”, that is to say to reveal to someone the end of a book or a series, for example, that he has not yet discovered. If the spoilers do not have a purely “tech” origin, social networks strongly encouraged them – especially during the broadcast of the globally watched fantasy series Game of Thrones or, week after week, Internet users had fun distilling information to those who had not yet had time to watch the latest episode.
Finally, in pure and hard computing, we find “data harvesting”, that is to say collecting mass digital data, and the Quebec term “cloud computing”, which comes from “cloud” in English, which we will rather translate in France by “online data storage system”.
Finally, in the pantheon of those whose attempt ended in failure, we find the word for recess classes “quoicoubeh”, which has been a hit on the networks since the beginning of the year. A term rejected by the Petit Robert. Perhaps also because nobody, to date, has yet found the definition.
