It's been a tough year in 2020 with a pandemic, natural disasters and some unsavoury scenes worldwide.
For many it was the hardest year of their lives and one they are proud to see the end of.
Hopefully 2021 will be a one of new beginnings with the vaccine signalling the start of the post-pandemic era.
And one thing we are all hoping for is certain words and phrases to stay in 2020 where they belong - here's a list of phrases we've heard all too often in 2020 and will hopefully soon leave behind us.
Unprecedented
What we'd give to be back living in "precedented times" - instead we've had to endure an unprecedented..pretty much everything.
Almost every politician asked a hard question, everyone explaining a decision and just general chit chat saw the word "unprecedented" flung out.
Let's hope it's soon a thing of the past.
Lockdown
Before 2020 most people probably never used the word lockdown or if they did it was in regards a prison or some kind of criminal behaviour.
Now we find ourselves in a third, and hopefully final, lockdown until sometime next year.
Here's hoping it's not a word that dominates 2021.
Wet pubs
A phrase coined in the summer which never really sat right with people.
We all hope we can go back to hoping pubs are all open and just called pubs again.
The new normal
Back at the start of the pandemic, everything was labelled "the new normal".
All the new measures like social distancing and restrictions were to become a key part of our future.
The phrase has kind of dwindled from use in recent months, probably because we are effectively living in a new normal - for now at least.
Zoom Quiz
Need we say anymore....most people hope to never do one again.
'You're on mute' - (worst of all)
Has there been a single work meeting in the last 9 months that has not had someone trying to speak but forgetting to turn their mute off?
We guess that there has been very few.
Bring back in person meetings where clicking a button to speak isn't necessary.
Pandemic
Again not a word we used all that much before 2020 and hopefully not something we say again after the first half of 2021 - unless talking in the past tense.
Panic buying
Remember when people kept buying all the toilet roll at the start of the pandemic for some reason? Seems like years ago.
Since then there's been the occasional panic buying bonanza with supermarkets now having limits on how much of some products you can buy.
Hopefully in the future we only use this word for when people stock up on bread and milk ahead of a storm.
Social distancing
Has anyone reading this ever used this word before 2020? Probably not.
Let's hope we can go back to just being social in 2021 once the vaccine rolls out.
Cases
It's the most searched term in Ireland almost every day...'Covid-19 cases'.
We have become obsessed with how many new cases are called out by Dr Holohan each day and hopefully that will soon be a thing of the past.
Flatten the curve
Back in March and April this was the buzz word, "we must flatten the curve".
Thankfully, Ireland did do it twice already, hopefully one more time will be enough to permanently flatten it so we can all stop talking about it.
Brexit
If you weren't reading about the coronavirus in recent months you were probably seeing talk of Brexit.
Thankfully a deal has been agreed and in 2021 we can maybe see this word used that bit less - although I wouldn't count on it.
Restrictions
Can't we just go back to an unrestricted life? Every part of our daily lives has been in some way restricted since March.
Hopefully restrictions will be something we talk about less in 2021, unless it's to do with lifting them.
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