Covid-19 has been a time of turning inward, of withdrawal from the world. But it’s also been a time of binge-watching, binge-streaming, binge-listening and more online. Now that lockdowns are being relaxed, people have already begun talking of binge-shopping. I am not so sure about that yet, but it’s just the time to discuss the word, ‘binge’.
According to Ivor Brown, author of Just Another Word, it is yet another word that has been used to mean several things in the past. And although it has a somewhat tenuous connection with its current usage, you’ll never guess how. The word had even gone out of use by 1942!
Could it acquire a new meaning in the age of Covid, along the lines of standoffish or touch-me-not? Oh well, until then I suppose we can continue to use binge to mean excessive. Including binge-distancing!
Stay safe and stay well, even while bingeing.
Peripatetic Perch 