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“Essa” has become the Youth Word of the Year 2022. “Essa is like youth – diverse and defying templated definitions, but spontaneous and ecstatically emotional,” Professor Anna Wileczek, chairwoman of the plebiscite jury, says.
According to the definition, “essa” means something easy or is an exclamation of joy. It is also considered “a word for any occasion.” It can be used as a greeting or farewell. More often, however, it occurs as an expression of positive feelings and an exclamation of joy or triumph.
“The victorious word is so capacious that it announces every state, ie., from the ecstatic exclamation of joy at an (easy) victory in an Internet game, getting a high grade at school, a crazy action, an unexpected fluke (…) In any case, the word is a signal of time freed from the routine of daily tedious duties, but also a sufficient justification for doing unusual, extreme or simply forbidden things,”
Professor Anna Wilczek explains.
The winning word with its interesting hissing sound also has its non-verbal variants, occurring in the form of a gesture or emoticon -> 🤙🏼.
The winning word was selected in a two-stage vote that ran from 11 October to 30 November this year. More than 250,000 people took part in the fun. The organiser of the poll is Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, and the partner of the initiative is the University of Warsaw.