Talking about #NormalContact as a practice can bump into things that we can describe but haven’t had specific terms for. These are some vocabulary terms we suggest using.
- Masker – Someone who advocates or practices the wearing of a mask when out in public
- Unmasker – Someone who chooses not to be masked in public. An unmasker may or may not oppose community masking as a whole. (Interesting note: unlike the other terms on this list, the term ‘unmasker’ is less useful because it doesn’t help us understand what someone wants, only what they do. You would think it would be clear since ‘masker’ is clear, but just being the opposite term doesn’t make it more useful.)
- Stay Homer – Someone who promotes staying home as much as possible during the COVID-19 lockdowns. (The closest opposite to a stay homer would probably be a normal contactor, but not necessarily. A normal contactor could advocate staying home as much as possible but be open to normal contact when they do go out.)
- Outbounder – Someone who advocates getting out during the quarantine orders, perhaps specifically as a form of protest.
- Normal Contactor – Someone who supports the philosophy of #NormalContact
- New Normal – A cultural phenomenon where we can disagree with someone, even vehemently, and yet have a normal conversation and even have fun with each other.
This vocabulary is interesting for a few reasons. First, it shows that opposing terms aren’t necessarily obvious. A masker and unmasker could both be normal contactors. So could a stay homer and an outbounder. This is a perfect example of how the incredibly narrow focus of #NormalContact allows totally differing opinions to agree and participate together, despite their differences. Second, the list illustrates that terms that seem like opposites (masker vs. unmasker, for instance) aren’t necessarily equally useful.
Updated when the “new normal” blog post came out.