Abstract
The article concerns new buzzwords created in the “time of the epidemic”. What inspired this research was the COVID-19 pandemic which has left its mark on many aspects of human life. The aim of the research, based on the diagnostic survey method, was to answer two questions: (1) Do you know any pejorative (negative) expressions connected to epidemics (e.g. the plague, cholera, typhoid fever, the Spanish flu) experienced by humanity? If so, then provide examples of such expressions; (2) In your opinion, can the COVID-19 pandemic leave a mark on our language? Have you already encountered any expressions related to the coronavirus pandemic in everyday communication? The research was carried out on a group of 100 secondary school and university students. The expressions listed by those surveyed in the questionnaires allowed the author to create a typology thereof. It turned out that university students proved to be more creative in comparison with their younger counterparts. This might be due to their age, education level, and out-of-school interests of the respondents.