Taiwan has chosen “chaos” as its word of the year for 2019. International and domestic events contributed to the word “chaos” garnering over 10,000 votes out of nearly 80,000, beating out 42 other words.
There were 42 short-listed words, but only one could represent Taiwan in 2019. People cast their votes and what did they choose? Chaos.
“Chaos” was nominated by Oscar-winning Director Ang Lee and Tsinghua University scholar Richard Lee.
The two runners-up were “lies” and “worry”. Not exactly the happiest of words.
Taiwanese badminton champion Chou Tien-cheng says the word “chaos” shows the need to find one’s own peace.
“Even in chaos, people can see different things. Still, we need to find peace within ourselves,” he said.
2019 saw a number of chaotic events. In Taiwan, flight attendant strikes disrupted air traffic and the Nanfangao bridge collapsed.
Internationally, there’s the ongoing US-China trade war, Brexit, and the protests in Hong Kong.
This is the second time that “chaos” has been chosen word of the year in Taiwan. The first time was in 2008.
In the same vein, the Oxford Dictionary chose “climate emergency” as their phrase for 2019. With wildfires spreading in forests all over the world, is it only a matter of time before “chaos” sees a three-peat?