The word ‘shirtfront’, Australia’s gift to the world and a reminder that movies like Mad Max and Crocodile Dundee are basically documentaries about our land of lawless ruffians, has been named word of the year by the National Dictionary Centre.
In the list of the most ‘Strayan things to have ever happened, that news falls somewhere between this:
And this:
The Sydney Morning Herald report that the word, an AFL term describing the action of a “front-on charge intended to knock an opponent to the ground”, beat out various other hot contenders.
‘Team Australia’, ‘man-bun’, ‘Ned Kelly beard’ and ‘coward punch’ were also considered, but ‘shirtfront’, which made international headlines after Tony Abbott threatened to do it to Vladimir Putin at the G20, handily won the day.
As far as enduring legacies go, our PM could do a lot worse.
Photo: Chris Hyde via Getty Images
