Word of the Year 2007

175 Responses

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  • Robyn Gallagher,

    My entry for most hated phrase is "World Class".

    I missed this when Ben first listed it, but this is one of my favourite love-to-hate phrases.

    My theory is that it's actually used when someone is comparing New Zealand with Australia but doesn't want to it look like petty trans-Tasman rivalry.

    "Queen Street will soon have world-class paving stones along the footpath, just like in Sydney and Melbourne!"

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Joanna,

    Thus far we have:

    its Business Time

    Can I please nominate "Apostrophe-catastrophe" for word of the year?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 746 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    Can I please nominate "Apostrophe-catastrophe" for word of the year?

    I's that cau'se you luuurrrvvveee the apo'strophe's or becau'se you hate's them?

    Personally, I wouldn't shop at a greengrocer's that didn't have at least three gratuitous apostrophes - anything less shows a lack of professional pride in a historic mercantile tradition.

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • Jacob Powell,

    Nice one Garth, I like sub-prime too.

    It puts me in mind of our shift from a basic Sky TV package to Freeview earlier this year. Once we'd plugged everything back in I realised that we were now in a sub-prime state. Or perhaps that should be sans-Prime...

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 23 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    Great list, Graeme.

    How could we have forgotten (so far)...

    xtra service

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    And three more words or phrases which I think indicate nothing more than the paucity of the speaker's vocabulary

    yeah right

    gutted

    stoked

    I would be delighted if I never, ever hear or read them again.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Sara Noble,

    xtra service is very salt, but I think the sentiment is covered by sub-prime.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2007 • 127 posts Report Reply

  • Heather Gaye,

    Godwin, the verb, more by virtue of demonstration than usage. There was someone at the EFB protest wielding a swastika banner; it feels to me that NZ politics has become so rabidly polarised, and the media get so histrionic, that every little argument gets ramped up to a godwin stalemate really quickly now.

    Morningside • Since Nov 2006 • 533 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    For those seeking inspiration, here's the Google zeitgeist for New Zealand in 2007.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Godwin, the verb, more by virtue of demonstration than usage. There was someone at the EFB protest wielding a swastika banner; it feels to me that NZ politics has become so rabidly polarised, and the media get so histrionic, that every little argument gets ramped up to a godwin stalemate really quickly now.

    Mr Litterick of the Fundy Post has an intriguing account of Protest Saturday in Auckland.

    He goes to these things so you don't have to.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby,

    @ deborah

    yeah right

    someone you know tried to sneak that into a cabinet paper.

    got pretty close, apparently.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Testcard,

    'Bombshell'. Something that a person drops, causing all manner of shock and surprise.

    Since Nov 2007 • 23 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    Mr Litterick of the Fundy Post has an intriguing account of Protest Saturday in Auckland.

    He goes to these things so you don't have to.

    Interesting how recent events have brought out both the far-left and far-right elements in society. Maybe they all could do well to browse a Cronulla Beach real estate brochure or two.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    'Bombshell'. Something that a person drops, causing all manner of shock and surprise.

    In the context of the terrorism business, shouldn't that be "Bombershell"?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    I'm 100% behind sub prime. It sums up a series of sporting achievements (rugby, cricket, netball, that stupid thing with the sailing boats), legislative attempts (EFB, Section 59 repeal), the actions of various people around October 15th.

    It just feels like the year that "wasn't really".

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    Graeme - you missed Coldplay, but that's ok because Clocked is better.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    gutted

    You know what's the weirdest thing about "gutted"? Some people spell it "guttered". I assume they're thinking it means "I felt so low, it was as if I had been kicked to the gutter," which probably makes more sense to them than feeling like you'd been disembowelled.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • David Haywood,

    Robyn Gallagher wrote:

    Some people spell it "guttered"

    Oh, don't get me started on 'guttered' and its ilk. I seem to be surrounded by people who suffer from some weird pseudo-homonym dyslexia...

    "One 'foul' swoop" (or even "one 'fowl' swoop") instead of "one fell swoop"

    "On 'tenderhooks'" instead of "on tenterhooks"

    etc., etc.

    A recent favourite is "I wouldn't 'trust' him with a ten foot barge pole". Which, actually, is kind of an improvement on the original, now that I think of it.

    Dunsandel • Since Nov 2006 • 1156 posts Report Reply

  • Lisa Docherty,

    Some people spell it "guttered".

    I am speakerless.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 9 posts Report Reply

  • Testcard,

    Robyn Gallagher wrote:

    Some people spell it "guttered"

    Oh, don't get me started on 'guttered' and its ilk. I seem to be surrounded by people who suffer from some weird pseudo-homonym dyslexia...

    "One 'foul' swoop" (or even "one 'fowl' swoop") instead of "one fell swoop"

    "On 'tenderhooks'" instead of "on tenterhooks"

    etc., etc.

    A recent favourite is "I wouldn't 'trust' him with a ten foot barge pole". Which, actually, is kind of an improvement on the original, now that I think of it.

    Hear hear, David. Or as some people would put it... here here.

    My own personal homophone arch-nemesis is 'without further adieu'.

    Since Nov 2007 • 23 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    DPF has just made up a beauty in this post on the Electoral Finance Bill amendments

    fillybusters

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    "without further adieu" I think began as a joke on some British comedy show, where all the characters, who were French, bid each other 'adieu' and the announce came in with "without further adieu..."

    Personal hate in this field though: saying someone "flaunted the law". A few years ago someone on NatRad news used to say this all the time. Unless they mean someone waved a law book around showily - which could happen - what they're trying to say is 'flout'

    A personal favourite was a flatmate, many years ago, who was challenged about her indecisiveness over some matter or other and who proclaimed imperiously "its a woman's provocative to change her mind".

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    I like fillybusters.

    It's what happens when you flog a dead horse.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    "One 'foul' swoop" (or even "one 'fowl' swoop") instead of "one fell swoop"

    Can't be bothered looking this up, but isn't "foul" the modern spelling of "fell" anyway?

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    So then I looked it up

    <quote>MACDUFF: [on hearing that his family and servants have all been killed]

    All my pretty ones?
    Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
    What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
    At one fell swoop?<quote>

    Kite = hunting bird, Fell = fierce, savage.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

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