Saturday 7 March 2020

hamsterkauf

Those Germans have a word for everything—including one that perfectly captures the FOMO (the Fear of Missing Out) effect compounded with panic-buying, from the reputation that the humble rodent has for hoarding food within its own cheeks. Supermarkets are displaying notices that yes we have no Desinfektionsmittel, Toliettenpapier, und so weiter. Perhaps reflective of the Zeitgeist, the term—or its verbal form hamstern, gehamstert, will join the borrowed ranks of Zivilcourage, Schadenfreude and Doppelgรคnger soon.