Word Spy - caving

pp. Staying inside one's home as often as possible.

Example Citation:

For years we have been sold the notion that pre-prepared convenience meals were the future for a time-poor generation. Kitchens were obsolete, cooking would soon be an archaic hobby and mealtimes were whenever you felt hungry.

But now, reality has struck back with the planned closure last week of David Jones's Foodchain stores at Parramatta and Melbourne, which specialised in expensive gourmet, ready-to-go meals, "designed for today's busy lifestyles". The $40million failure of the concept, which has been linked to the early exit of David Jones chief executive Peter Wilkinson, must have shocked the futurists who were convinced we were all crying out for vacuum-packed beef bourguignon.

But it was doomed by a converging series of lifestyle trends which have been accelerated by the events of September 11. "Holing up" or "caving" is the name for the latest retreat into our homes.
—Miranda Devine, "Our Fast Food Lifestyle Is Ready To Go," Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia), September 22, 2002

Earliest Citation:

Social commentators have coined a new phrase for it: caving. It describes families who prefer being at home to just about anywhere else. Even those who flee the big cities for the coast are ending up spending their days — and nights — behind four secure walls.
—David Gibbs, "Back to the cave," Sunday Mail, January 6, 2002

Categories:

Anger and Anxiety
Lifestyles

Posted on January 22, 2002