Tuesday, November 13, 2012

"omnishambles"

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"Omnishambles" has been named word of the year by the Oxford English dictionary.

The word - meaning a situation which is shambolic [very badly organized] from every possible angle - was coined in 2009 by the writers of BBC political satire The Thick of It.
The word strikes me as peculiarly British in its ascendancy -- assuming a level of intelligence and wit and a vague, literary clumsiness that I doubt would be seen at, for example, Merriam Webster in this country. The belly laughs of The Washington Post's "Mensa Invitational" is more American.

I do imagine that if the Occupy movement is ever resurrected, "omnishambles" might become its spoken or unspoken motto.
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