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(colloquial noun) shorthand for the price of residing disaster
The price of residing disaster is accountable for placing a sizeable dent in our private funds — and this abomination within the dictionary.
Goodness is aware of we might all do with amusing as payments, lease, mortgages, groceries and the tax burden shoot up. However whereas referring to our collective woe as “cozzie livs” could soften the blow of monetary strife, I concern the cringe issue solely compounds the distress.
It could sound like an Australianism and was voted phrase of the yr by the Macquarie dictionary, however its use originated within the UK. With the over-mortgaged center lessons turning to reselling second-hand clothes on apps corresponding to Vinted and Depop to make just a few quid, the Instagram account @DMDrama has turned value haggling into an artwork kind. After one purchaser requested for a reduction, the vendor’s response went viral: “I can’t go that low, sorry babe . . . particularly with the cozzie livs and all that jazz.”
With inflation falling globally, there’s hope that the squeeze on residing requirements might ease in 2024, which might reduce the time period’s possibilities of linguistic survival. However economists warn that inflation danger stays very a lot on the upside.
However humorous makes an attempt to blunt the intense nature of this isn’t one thing I discover humorous. And extra importantly, does anybody on the sharp finish of the price of residing disaster truly use this time period?
In my nook of east London, folks whose funds have reached breaking level have adopted a unique piece of shorthand: fuck the Tories — popularised by final yr’s Christmas no 1 try. In a beautiful instance of circularity, now you can purchase a variety of merchandise bearing this slogan on Depop, beginning at a purse-friendly £4.99 for a sew-on patch. My recommendation for the federal government? Beware the Genny Lex in 2024.
Claer Barrett is the FT’s client editor and writer of the FT’s Sort Your Financial Life Out e-newsletter sequence; claer.barrett@ft.com; Instagram @ClaerB