Word of the Day – 1 November 2017: Ringxiety.

Welcome to a regular feature on my blog – WOTD. Each day a new word will be suggested as the word of the day, which could either be an already existing (but rarely used) word or may be a completely made-up one. There will be a short definition and, ideally, an example of how the word would be used in everyday conversation.

I encourage anyone to provide their own words, either in the comments below or by linking their posted word to this blog. Don’t forget the definition or maybe when it should be used.

So, today’s word is: Ringxiety. (Noun).

Pronounced: Ring-ksi-eh-tea.

A phone trills in a crowded train carriage, and you frantically rummage for yours. Out on a country walk you whip out your phone like a gun from a holster, convinced you’ve felt it vibrate, only to discover a pathetically blank screen. According to the psychologist David Laramie, who coined the term, ringxiety is a feeling of low-level anxiety causing us to think we’ve heard our phones ring, even when they haven’t. Evidence – as if we needed any more – that in this age of instant communication, being in a heightened state of readiness for human contact is fast becoming a default setting.

Eg: Michaela was unaware that she had a severe case of ringxiety until she found herself unable to make the right decision as to which to pick up first: her phone that may not have actually rung – or her 4 week old crying baby.

love.