Laurence Dollimore
APOROFOBIA has been named as Spain’s word of the year for 2017.
It means phobia of poor people and is described as any ‘rejection or aversion to the poor’.
It was chosen by Fundeu BBVA, which has been selecting the country’s ‘words of the year’ for the last five years.
Aporofobia was coined by the Valencian philosopher Adela Cortina in several press articles in which she argued that it was what best explained Spanish society’s rejection of immigrants and refugees.
The term has just been incorporated into the Dictionary of the Spanish language and last September the Senate approved a motion asking for the inclusion of aporophobia in the Penal Code.
Previous words of the year include last year’s ‘populism’ and ‘selfi’ in 2014.
