The year as a lexicon from A to Z. What moved people’s minds in 2023?
At the end of 2023 it’s time for topics, people, trends of the year – between the years it’s better to relax rather than stress.
A lifestyle lexicon from A to Z:
– Weight loss injection: Celebrities caused a real hype about medications like Ozempic and Wegovy.
– “Breathless”: Ten years after its release, the new version of Helene Fischer’s song with Shirin David became a number one hit.
– Eye patch: It was a real eye-catcher when Chancellor Olaf Scholz appeared piratically wearing an eye patch after a jogging accident.
– “Barbie”: Hype film of the year with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling (director: Greta Gerwig). Together with Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”, the summer blockbuster became the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon.
– Beckham test: Men “pass” it when they dance along with their partner without being asked – a Tiktok trend based on a scene from the Netflix documentary series about David Beckham.
– Birkenstock: The sandal manufacturer went public and is hip in America. The trend sneakers of the year seemed to be Hoka’s.
– ChatGPT: This text robot triggered hype and concerns about AI (so-called artificial intelligence) by 2023 at the latest.
– Celebration Tour: Probably the last brave of the 80s superstars – Madonna – gave concerts again, albeit late.
– Corona: The pandemic is over, but the virus remained in new variants and with sometimes severe consequences for sick leave.
– Dancing Star: On RTL’s “Let’s Dance” model Anna Ermakova, daughter of Boris Becker, captured the hearts of the TV audience.
– Dirk Bach: In Cologne there was a dispute over the pink bench at the grave of the unforgettable comedian, but the city will soon even have a Dirk Bach square.
– “Village Romance”: The board game by Lukas Zach and Michael Palm became “Game of the Year” and also the best-selling – it offers idyll as well as a peaceful and cooperative experience.
– Edgar Cut: A version of the pot cut for boys, which was also often gossiped about on social media.
– Disposable vapes: Disposable cigarettes that suddenly boomed and also enticed younger people to smoke.
– “Friesenjung”: The hyper-fast song by rapper Ski Aggu and musician Joost Klein with a sample by comedian Otto was a hit.
– German star: The emphatic Sandra Hülser was named “Actress of the Year” (“Hollywood Reporter”). Her roles in “Anatomy of a Case” and “The Zone of Interest” impressed. 2024 Oscars?
– Gottschalk: In his last “Wetten,dass..?” show, Thomas Gottschalk (73) took stock of today’s correctness. It’s “not a great development” that he now speaks differently at home than he does on TV.
– Hot Chip Challenge: Crazy trend of snacking really hot and filming it and then sharing it on social media.
– Dog excrement attack: Hard to believe act of a ballet director who smeared excrement on a critic from the “FAZ”.
– Insect bed bug: An alleged bed bug plague plagued France – in the year before the Olympic Games in Paris.
– Youth word goofy: The term chosen in October describes a clumsy person or silly behavior.
– Jürgen Drews: The singer said goodbye to the stage, even though he was back on a ZDF show in December; a final tour ended Elton John; Mireille Mathieu and Vicky Leandros want to do that in 2024.
– “Komet”: Germany’s hit of the year by Udo Lindenberg and Apache 207; At 21 weeks, it is the longest number one hit in the Republic ever.
– Tie death: Does anyone still wear a tie after Corona softened the fashion rules? Young men prefer necklaces.
– Kissing scandal: Spanish soccer player Jennifer Hermoso was publicly kissed on the mouth by the association president without being asked.
– Laughter flash: The serious “Tagesschau” spokeswoman Susanne Daubner had a fit of laughter on air at the end of September, which caused her to react in a sympathetic, stunned manner with “Oh man.”
– Liam Carpenter: The influencer from England amuses with clips about typically German (granty) peculiarities. Introduction: “In Germany, we don’t say…”.
– Lioness of Kleinmachnow: For about 30 hours in the summer near Berlin, a wild sow was driven through the media (global) village as a lioness.
– Lord of the Lost: Rock band that brought Germany another embarrassment at the Eurovision Song Contest.
– Mönch von Lützerath: Viral meme about a man in disguise who knocked over police officers in the mud during brown coal protests.
– Knife dance: Britney Spears sometimes seemed confused on social media and caused a stir with her autobiography (“The Woman in Me”).
– Miss France: Miss France 2024, Eve Gilles (20), has short hair, a pixie cut, which was a first – and actually led to hostility. “No! Yes! Oh!”, Louis de Funès would say.
– Taping your mouth shut at night: Mouth taping is the name of the dangerous trend to supposedly achieve healthier sleep by breathing through your nose.
– “Now And Then”: new Beatles hit that was only made possible by modern technology – a revival (almost) as beautiful as that of Abba in 2021.
– Orange Brandenburg Gate: Hardly anything is as divisive as the actions of the climate activists of the so-called last generation.
– Othering: In one of the big bestsellers of the year, Dirk Oschmann revealed how the West still defines itself as the norm and the East as a deviation: “The East: a West German invention”.
– “Padam Padam”: A catchy tune of the year – by pop singer Kylie Minogue, for whom it felt “like a comeback”.
– Horse/”Girl on the Horse”: Song voted summer hit by the Bavarian DJ and producer duo Luca-Dante Spadafora/Niklas Dee – Techno remake of an almost ten-year-old “Bibi and Tina” film song.
– Quiet Luxury: Countertrend to flashy fashion with bold logos – previously called understatement.
– Queer influencer: Several number one hits (“Ice Cream”, “Hot Or not”) and, for example, losing weight in front of a social media audience made Twenty4Tim one of the new celebrities of the year.
– Rammstein: The allegations from women, especially against frontman Till Lindemann (60), were a hot topic of the year.
– “Reserve”: Prince Harry’s mega-bestseller, in which he revealed things that people didn’t necessarily want to know about the royal.
– Rizz: Ability to be charming and flirt successfully. The term, derived from the word charisma, was named word of the year in Great Britain (“Oxford Word of the Year”).
– Roman Empire: Men think about the Roman Empire several times a day if a Tiktok trend is to be trusted.
– Self-service checkouts: It feels like you have to pay your own cash everywhere now. Self-checkout is no longer only available at Ikea, but also in many other stores.
– End of series boom: It wasn’t just the Hollywood strike that led to fewer productions and an end to the all-too-golden age of streaming.
– Siesta debate: Discussion in midsummer about new working time models in Germany in view of heat waves.
– Situationship: popular term for a romantic or sexual relationship in which those involved do not clearly define and communicate their status.
– Smashburger: Counter-movement to fat burgers – meat patties are mashed on a hot plate, the edge caramelizes until crispy.
– “Sun and Concrete”: Coming-of-age film and German box office hit based on the book by comedian Felix Lobrecht, who also dealt very openly with his psychological problems this year.
– Taylor Swift: Time magazine named the 34-year-old, who is breaking records with her “Eras” tour, Person of the Year. Fans of the pop star call themselves Swifties.
– Tethered Caps: Many people noticed environmentally friendly let-me-top caps on cola or water bottles this year.
– Tipflation: Name for the phenomenon that, after the corona pandemic and in view of inflation and a lack of staff in the catering industry, more tips are expected or even demanded.
– Without make-up: The pioneer of the make-up-free trend in 2023 was the actress Pamela Anderson, who used to wear heavy make-up.
– Past: Anti-Semitism is history – in view of the Hamas attack on Israel and many strange reactions to it, a fitting slogan was “Never again is now”.
– Oktoberfest: This year – er this year – the Oktoberfest in Munich was better attended than it has been for a long time.
– Words of the year: In Germany, “Crisis Mode” was chosen, in Austria “KanzlerMenu” (a hamburger at McDonald’s is the “cheapest warm meal,” said the head of government on child poverty) and in Switzerland “Monsterbank” (merger of UBS and Credit Suisse).
– X is the new name of Twitter: The astonishment remains that the old name, the bird and the verb “tweet” disappeared without necessity. Twitter competitors like BlueSky and Threads were also an issue in ’23.
– Y for the Bundeswehr: Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in 2023 about the army and society: “We have to become ready for war.”
– Cinnamon rolls: The trendy pastry that has become unmissable – hype thanks to social media and sprouting in-stores with cinnamon rolls.
– Z as in Gen Z: The so-called Generation Z (born between around 1995 and 2010) pays too much attention to work-life balance, is stupid and lazy and in general – possibly the most annoying cliché of the year.