Oxford chooses 'omnishambles' as word of the year

Associated Press ^ | November 13, 2012 | JILL LAWLESS

[Berlin_Freeper]

LONDON (AP) — Britain's media are in a meltdown and its government is gaffe-prone, so Oxford Dictionaries has chosen an apt Word of the Year: "omnishambles."

Oxford University Press on Tuesday crowned the word — defined as "a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations" — its top term of 2012.

Each year Oxford University Press tracks how the English language is changing and chooses a word that best reflects the mood of the year. The publisher typically chooses separate British and American winners. This year's American champion is "gif," short for graphics interchange format, a common format for images on the Internet.

The editors said gif was being recognized for making the crucial transition from noun to verb, "to gif": to create a gif file of an image or video sequence, especially relating to an event. And, inevitably, to share it online.

[tomkat]

I hadn't forgotten, just a bit busy getting Christmas orders made.

Having been partial to Brit tv for a lot of years (esp. docus) I didn't have much trouble with the reference minutiae, tho that's not likely to be the case for the uninitiated.

From the first few episodes viewed to date, I've found it mainly enjoyable, in a teeth-gritting sort of way .. lol !

Were I directing it however, I'd have dialed back both the mania and the gratuitous profanity just a bit.
Don't get me wrong, on a bad day in the shop the air has a perceptible blue-streaked tinge !
But I'd guess that the show's inclusion thereof prolly distracted many that would otherwise have enjoyed it more.

But all in all, I thank you for the recommendation, and will undoubtedly watch the rest of it.
And just for the record, one of my top five series of all time, and the one that got me hooked on Brit tv, is All Creatures Great and Small.
Perhaps hard to believe of such a heathen as me, but there you have it !

lol

cheers from PA,
Tom