I had to smile when I read a piece on The Independent online saying that ‘Omnishambles’ is the word that sums up the year – and that’s official. It states that writers of The Thick of It are credited with coming up with the Oxford Dictionaries UK Word of the Year.
“’Omnishambles’ is defined as “a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterised by a string of blunders and miscalculations”.”
Well, they may just have hit upon something here – but not the whole year, surely. We had the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics – we can’t forget these high points.
A spokesperson for the Oxford University Press explained that what makes this informal noun so impressive is its “linguistic productivity”, with the included off-shoots ‘Romneyshambles’: “”Coined in the UK to describe US presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s views on London’s ability to host a successful Olympic Games”.”
However, being named the Word of the Year does not mean that ‘omnishambles’ will automatically find itself in any Oxford dictionaries. For its inclusion to be considered evidence is needed that it will “stay the course”.
The Oxford University Press is hopeful, apparently, saying: “Omnishambles, derived from omni- (‘all’) and shambles (‘a state of total disorder’), has given rise to its own derivative, omnishambolic, indicating that potentially this is a word with staying power.”
Other words shortlisted include Eurogeddon, Mobot and mummy porn.
What do you think? Has the word Omnishambles got staying power. I’d like to think not, but it seems to have a certain ring to it today.