In the annals of time and history, alongside fellow luminaries such as “mansplaining,” “pod slurping,” and “muffin top,” now sits Tony Abbott and his “captain’s calls.”
The Committee’s Choice for Word of the Year 2015 goes to… captain’s call #macqwoty pic.twitter.com/jkpkFy6QwL
— Macquarie Dictionary (@MacqDictionary) January 20, 2016
Per the dictionary’s official definition of the phrase:
“noun – a decision made by a political or business leader without consultation with colleagues.”
“Captain’s call perfectly encapsulates what happened in Australia over the past year. There has been an interesting change in usage; an infrequent item of the jargon of cricket makes the leap into politics and is now being used generally with an ironic tinge to it that is very Australian.”
The phrase won in a canter over two chief rivals.
“noun – an urban male who wishes to associate himself by his appearance with a rugged outdoors way of life, as by wearing outdoor clothes such as check shirts, jeans and large boots combined with a beard as typical of a lumberjack.”
“It used to be all about women’s fashions, but the words are now being dominated more and more by those related to men’s fashion. Lumbersexual is an organic phenomenon that someone has identified and named. It is a neat coinage and perfectly describes this style that peaked in Australia over the past year.”
…and, really bloody curiously, deso…
“noun – Colloquial a designated driver. Also, deso driver.”
“The idea of deso is very topical. It combines a drinking culture with that of a law-abiding society. The word structure itself is typically Australian – a shortened form with an -o ending. It is astonishing how quickly and smoothly the deso became part of our lives.”
…which is odd mostly because the PEDESTRIAN.TV editorial pod swears black and blue that the accepted contraction of “designated driver” has always been “dezi,” and leads us to believe that Macquarie is trying their guts out to be hip and cool with the ~youth of the nation~.
