2017 has been a year of momentous change.
And the language we use to make sense of our times
has evolved just as fast.
Just imagine how useful it's going to be to go,
"You've just hepeated me!"
I found out recently, I'm a Xennial.
Every year, a crack team of word detectives at Oxford Dictionaries
taps into the national conversation...
I love woke as a word.
It's about being awake.
Spread the word. Yeah. Gorpcore. Gorpcore.
..to decide which newly popular word best reflects
the spirit of the past 12 months.
So, there's Mr and there's Ms. And now there's Mx.
Recent words of the year have included "selfie",
"vape" and "post-truth".
But what are this year's contenders?
This is a really interesting one - "compromat".
Do you know the difference between a snowflake and a broflake?
A broflake? I haven't got a clue.
Can you spot a "dotard" or a "paigon"?
Can you say that again? Never heard of him.
Ever been "hat-fished"?
Or wondered whether your life needs a little "lagom"?
La-gom? Vegetable?
Sounds like a disease!
Well, wonder no more.
In this show, an array of word-loving celebrities
will chew over Oxford's pick of this year's top words.
It's culture-jacking. Okay.
From words that express how we see the world...
One word that is blazing through politics is "Corbynista".
..to those that capture our quest for happiness or love.
Have you ever breadcrumbed anyone? I think I've probably done a bit.
What about any fubbing?
And, at the end, we'll reveal which one has been officially
judged to be this year's most significant word.
My word of the year...
Belter. Belting.
..I think is hope.
That belter. You're absolutely belting!
Welcome to 2017's Word Of The Year!
We all love words.
Oh, 'Q'.
But it's easy not to realise
how language is changing around us.
A word of the year helps us notice that,
and focus on the year that's come to an end.
The job of a word of the year, really,
is to absolutely encapsulate the preoccupations of the time,
the activities of a particular time, our thoughts, our behaviour.
It's to nail those down in a single word.
In their search for the perfect word, Oxford Dictionaries
check how thousands of terms are currently used,
and then draw up a list of words that say something
interesting about the way we live now.
It's that list of keywords, fighting for the top spot,
that we're about to explore.
A "manel"?
Is it like a man's version of a flannel?
Who makes up these words?!
No, a "manel" is a panel that's made out of... Of men! Ah, right!
You're not too far, though! No, man. No, I said "flannel", bro.
Here to mull over Oxford's first lot of words from 2017,
are Jamie Laing and Rick Edwards.
Cheers. The subject they're discussing
is one close to all our hearts.
It's dating!
This is nice, isn't it?
Roaring fire, bottle of wine.
Couple of guys playing a game.
It's like a date. It is a date.
Like a really cute date. Yeah.
Words used around dating are some of the fastest changing
words in the English language.
Do you notice that all of your words
are sort of bad behaviour
whilst dating related?
They inventively capture a dating scene today
that's very different from the romance of the past.
"Melt" is classic.
"Melt" is... Melt is just a general term.
Melt is Rick Edwards. No, that's not right. Yeah.
It's just when someone's a little bit soppy. That's not me!
A little bit.
You just, you have an air of... Soppiness. ..soppiness.
I know what you mean. Okay, fine. Yeah.
So, what's "breadcrumbing"? What does it mean?
Breadcrumbimg is basically where you kind of lead someone on.
Are you breadcrumbing me right now? Yeah, kind of.
I'm kind of breadcrumbing you right now. That's a hard way to find out.
Yeah. What about "stashing"?
Stashing is basically where you get a new girlfriend. Yeah. Okay.
But you kind of don't... Or boyfriend? Or boyfriend.
Doesn't matter. Girlfriend or boyfriend. And you don't want
your friends to know you're going out with them,
so you kind of stash them away. You keep them secret, you keep them hidden.
Oh, so it's like you never go to a party with them or anything. Yeah.
You just, like, see them on a Tuesday evening. Exactly.
Have you ever been stashed? I don't think I have.
Have you ever breadcrumbed anyone?
I think I've probably done a bit of breadcrumbing in my time, yeah.
What about any fubbing? Oh, hang on, no, I know fubbing.
You know fubbing? So, "fubbing" is a term that an ad agency came up
with, for a campaign a dictionary were doing in Australia, like, five years ago.
"Nubbing", "fuffing", "frolling" "igging", "exing". "Nothering."
"Bitting". "Tellysnub". And then "fubbing".
So, fubbing is when you snub someone using your phone. Exactly.
And, at the time, didn't really take. But now...
Five years later, it's now organically...
It's organically grown. Yeah. Because people are fubbing.
Any more?
There's one called "hat-fishing".
"Hat-fishing"? "Hat-fishing."
Hat-fishing, I wouldn't know anything about it. Mm...
But it's where, in your dating profiles, like Tinder,
the person is constantly wearing a hat,
because you're slightly worried that you're losing your hair.
And you've never? Never. Mm.
Don't need it, don't worry about it, not a concern.
Fine. Is it always that people are hat-fishing
because they've got receding hairlines? It's not receding. Or...
I'm just gaining face. That's what I'm gaining.
Other people are losing hair, I've gained face. Yeah.
How much face are you gaining a year, at the moment?
I'm gaining about an inch a year. An inch a year, that's decent. Yeah.
Exactly. You're going to have so much face! I can't wait to have so much face!
Well, good on you, mate. Good on you.
Do you know what I love about you, Rick?
You turn negatives into positives. I try to. Like, I'm a melt!
Yeah! I'm a melt, guys!
I'm a hat-fisher!
You're gaining face!
Might "hat-fishing" become the word of the year?
Oh, my God! I've been hat-fished!
We'll have to wait and see.
But while we're thinking about relationships, let's turn now
to our next set of words in the running for the big title.
This time, it's words that women use about men.
Oof!. Yeah!
Bad male behaviour has been very much in the spotlight this year.
You big baboon!
Lending a bit of extra punch even to the most innocuous words
that women use to poke fun at men.
Do we all get "mansplaining"?
So, that's when a man explains something a woman already knows.
Basically, that he's a patronising prat.
Here to explore a smattering of terms that deliver a little
hit where it hurts are Sara Pascoe and Jo Brand.
I think it would be natural to assume that new words around
feminism are...quite a few of them
are going to have the word "man" in them.
Yes. Used in some sort of pejorative way towards men. Yes.
I think it's male behaviours.
No. No, no, Betty, that's wrong. Let me show you again.
In some ways, it's actually less aggressive to have a sillier word
for it. I think sometimes, rather than going on absolutely furious,
it's like, "Will you stop manspreading right next to me?"
It's a nice way of men going, "Oh, hang on, sorry,
"and I mansplaining that to you?" Yeah. No, absolutely.
How delightful that we can now talk about it like this.
It's good that there are words for these things now.
Is anyone doing manspreading?
No, you're all very carefully not doing it.
That's where men sit with their legs wide apart
and they own the place, they own the place.
It's quite annoying if you're squeezing into the seat on the
other side of them, but very handy
if you were swinging a heavy bag.
For a few decades now, we've been seeing "man"
used in words, you know, like, "man-bag" or "manscaping",
where they're kind of light, comic words that refer to the male
version of something that we particularly associate with women.
But in more recent years, there have been a few more of these
man blends that have more of an edge to them.
Historically, in our society, male behaviour is regarded as unmarked.
Because the man is the standard.
And so I think there's something going on here,
where you're starting to describe male behaviours as not standard.
And that's a very interesting thing.
The words "manspreading"
and "mansplaining" have been around for a while,
but are joined in our lexicon this year by various new words
using "man", "bro" or "he" as a prefix.
Like the term "sausage fest",
zwhich describes a room full of men.
These words co-opt maleness itself to make blokes
the butt of the jokes.
One of them is "manfant",
for a grown man who behaves like a child.
Can you give us a question?
Don't be... No, I'm not going to give you a question.
I'm not going to give you a question. You are fake news.
There's also "manel",
for a panel made up only of men.
The reason I think that is a great word is that by calling it
that, it's not the norm any more. It's not the default. Yeah.
It's not, "Oh, it's nice... we thought we'd get a woman on."
It's not that, instead it's a, "Oh, I've found myself on a manel again."
Nothing's going to be completely right until we have "fanels".
Fanels! All women. Yes.
Things like "sausage party",
if we just used that word also about all-male panels. Or "sausage fest".
Sausage fest, oh, sausage parties are different things! Yes.
No, we've all been to one of those,
but I don't think they're planning on putting that in at the moment.
When my social life hits the Oxford dictionary,
then we'll get some new words!
Moving from man to bro, We now have "broflake",
a cheeky new way to describe a grumbly and reactionary man.
The word's been coined in response to the insult, "snowflake",
which is used by broflakes, like Piers Morgan, to knock
millennials for being touchy about their political beliefs.
A "broflake" is not just a man who is a snowflake,
so it's not just a man who is easily offended.
He's also a man who feels resentful about certain events,
certain phenomena, certain words, even, that exclude him.
If you're a broflake, you don't like what you're seeing,
which is largely seeing power shifting away from you, perhaps.
It's rare that lexicographers can pinpoint the exact moment
that a word enters our language.
But on 22nd September, at 6:01 AM,
a brand-new word about men appeared on Twitter.
And immediately went viral.
Hepeated. Oh, yes.
Hepeated, I really like.
Now, that's a situation where, for example, in a board meeting,
a woman makes a suggestion and it's ignored. Yeah.
And then the man makes it and everyone goes, "Oh, my word, what a
"revelation, that's brilliant." Absolutely. It always happens.
And then we blame ourselves, we go,
"I didn't say it confidently enough", or "maybe my voice was so weedy"!
"Maybe I speak so high-pitched, nobody could hear the..."
A dog next-door thought it was a good idea. Yes!
So, what's your favourite of that crop?
I really like a lot of them.
But I think "hepeated", I can just imagine how useful it's going
to be to go, "You've just hepeated me!" Yeah.
I just think it's such a nice,
nifty way of dealing with a situation that's really unhelpful.
What about you? Definitely, for me, it's "mansplaining". Yeah.
Yeah, because it happens to me quite a lot, you see. Oh, ouch.
SHE GROWLS
Anyway, see you in the divorce courts.
Next, stand by for words with a Trumpy whiff.
As Nish Kumar and Aisling Bea talk America.
The kids are saying "dotard"!
Comedian Mae Martin explores happiness words
with Bronte Aurell...
Is it a luh-ka? Luh-ka. Luh-ka.
..and Jamie Laing and Rick Edwards grapple with a 2017 fashion trend.
This, to be fair, is a little bit gorpcore.
White House correspondent, Nish Kumar.
A surprising number of new words have been contributed to the
English language this year by this man, Donald J Trump.
The 45th president of America both in chronology and quality.
Surprising because his grasp of the English language is not
necessarily the strongest.
Ironic given that he has such an aversion to immigrants that
Donald Trump speaks English considerably worse than one.
This is an island.
Surrounded by water, big water.
Joining Nish Kumar to discuss words by Trump or about Trump and the
crazy world of the White House this year is fellow comedian Aisling Bea.
Straight in. This is a really interesting one. It is compromat.
Ooh, compromat which is...
Compromising materials. Compromat.
The Russian word compromat suddenly came to everyone's
attention in January of this year
when a dossier was leaked that suggested the Russian
government had information about Donald Trump that could potentially
leave him open to blackmail.
In Russian, the word compromat means compromising materials.
In Russia they have loads of words that they were
just like we are going to come up with something new for basketball.
If you're looking for a villain in a James Bond movie.
Then look no further.
So, yeah, compromat is one of those words which is taken from the English
but has been around since the 1930s as a political tool in Russia
and it is something that going into politics you have
years in advance of needing any of it.
You start gathering compromising
material on everyone you know in case they become your enemies.
Trump does have opponents say the word compromat is one to
watch as it may yet hold the key to the future of his presidency.
Those opponents include the liberal press about whom he was tweeting one
night in May when he accidentally posted a now famous nonsense word.
Covfefe. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.
Covfefe. Ba-ba-ba-bap.
Covfefe. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.
The world is going to end.
Covfefe is a very rare example of a word that achieved huge
currency without anyone on the planet actually knowing
exactly what it meant.
And of course the big question on everyone's lips is
if it goes into the dictionary, what on earth will the definition be.
Another person not too fond of Trump is the man
he likes to call Little Rocket Man, North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un.
North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States.
They will be met with fire and fury.
Like the world has never seen.
In response to Trump's taunts,
Kim Jong Un used a word in September to describe the American
president that got everyone reaching for their dictionaries.
I never thought I would see a situation where people were taking
Kim Jong Un's side on anything but Kim Jong Un called him a dotard.
I don't even know where he got this from.
Dotard is a real word to describe someone who is elderly,
maybe a bit senile.
I'm fascinated to know is Kim Jong Un a massive fan of old
English literature?
Do you think that is the only English literature that is
available in North Korea, that maybe they stopped getting in any
new books after the 1900s.
Kim Jong Un sat there being like, really,
slamming with something the kids are saying.
The kids are saying dotard. Thee, come high-five, hither.
It was a very strange exchange.
Dotard versus Little Rocket Man
and you go, somewhere between these two maniacs we are all in a lot of trouble.
I bet Bowie was turning in his grave, he is not a rocket man.
It is Elton John. Oh.
In August, a weekend of clashes between racists
and anti-fascists in Charlottesville, Virginia
brought a pair of interesting words to prominence.
Both from the left.
One was antifa short for anti-fascism.
Which is what the people there to fight the white supremacists
called themselves.
The other was bigotocracy coined by Trump's opponents to describe
his presidency after he failed to immediately condemned the racists.
You expect him to be a sort of parental figure whereas
actually when you think of Trump as a child it makes complete
sense that he is just there going, fight, fight, fight.
I think the only way he would've condemned
those awful tiki-torching, marching guys would have been maybe
if none of them has any spending money.
What, if push comes to shove, would you say your word of the year is?
I would put antifascism.
I'm going to go with bigotocracy or dotard and I've decided against dotard
because as much as I don't like Donald Trump, I don't
want to come down on the side of Kim Jong Un.
This is a dangerous game to play.
Unless I do come down very hard on the side of Kim Jong Un.
Can you imagine, they are all like, "Thank you, Nish Kumar."
That's my impression of life in North Korea.
Let's move seamlessly now from the sunny plains of a North Korean
military display to something even more blissful.
Our perpetual search for happiness. And the words that go with it.
# Happiness, happiness, the greatest gift that I possess... #
Here to have a rummage in our word of the year contentment
corner is Mae Martin.
Happiness is a very elusive thing, we all want to be happy
and we don't know how to get there.
My job is interesting because I'm a comedian so every night I get
on stage and try to make strangers happy knowing nothing about them.
It is a job that brings me a lot of happiness
but in general I'm stressed, people are stressed.
It has been a crazy year, weird stuff has been happening.
So I'm interested in this shift towards trying to find new
ways to achieve happiness.
Today I'm going to look at the words associated with happiness.
Last year, it was impossible to go into a book shop without
encountering hygge, the Danish word for cosy contentment.
And since then, it has just got bigger and bigger.
I mean, I'm feeling something. Is it happiness?
So, this year publishers have been quick to mine
other languages for new words about happiness.
Any one of which could become word of the year.
Mae Martin has come to a design shop to quiz a lifestyle
expert from Denmark about all things hygge and beyond.
So, hygge was huge last year. What is it, exactly?
In a sentence it is to appreciate the moment that you are in while you are in it.
It could be what we're doing now sitting together having
a conversation, candles on, sharing food.
But you don't have to have candles. You can hygge in a tent in the rain.
Because you're with people that appreciate that.
You can hygge in the rain? Absolutely.
You can hygge on a train? Absolutely.
You can hygge on a boat? On a boat. With a goat?
But what are some of the other words. What is lykke?
Lykke is a new word, is the word this year. A follow-up from hygge.
Lykke means happiness and fulfilment.
You are lykke when you are fulfilled and you are happy.
It doesn't have to be running down the street lykke. It can be
because I have a nice family. I have fulfilment in my job.
All those kind of things. An all-round happiness.
The more you talk about it, the more empty my life feels,
I wish I had some lykke.
Lykke like hygge hails from Denmark. Did you make these?
I did, yes, this afternoon. Shut up.
But there is a new word from Sweden that's suddenly everywhere now too.
Can we talk about lagom. That is a big word this year.
I think I have a problem with lagom
so lagom is about having just enough and not wanting more.
Is that right? Lagom means not too much, not too little, just right.
Like I have had one bun.
If you had another one, that probably wouldn't be lagom. Really?
No. It's sufficient, you don't need two or three or four.
You might want two but you don't need two.
But lagom isn't just about food, lagom is about balance in your life.
Lagom can be the car you drive, the house you buy,
it can be putting your heating on a timer
because it is not lagom leaving it on full blast for 24 hours a day.
It is also not lagom to have a cold house.
So lagom is about fairness as well. God, that is good.
A more balanced society.
There's another word we haven't talked about that I'm obsessed with
called firgun. Firgun, a Hebrew word. A Hebrew word.
And this is so beautiful. It is the opposite of schadenfreude.
Schadenfreude is having a malicious enjoyment of someone else's pain.
And this is more deriving pleasure from other people's happiness.
It is an amazing word and we should all do so much more of that.
We should be focusing our lives around that. Absolutely.
It is so beautiful. You had firgun watching me enjoy that cinnamon bun. Absolutely.
And I'm having firgun because I'm proud of your accomplishments.
Imagine what the world could be like if we all had a bit of firgun in our lives.
I think I might cry right now.
No, I won't. It would be so awkward.
But we have had some mulled wine, you know. Let's keep drinking.
# I've got more than my share of happiness...! #
A quick fashion moment now before the break
and we have a sartorial humdinger of a word for you.
Gorpcore. Gorpcore. Wha?
No idea whatsoever.
OK, so gorpcore is basically like outside ware. Practical gear.
Practical gear.
A gorpcore outfit can be put together simply by layering up regular outdoor clothing...
What do you look like? ..to create a stylised fashion.
I'll tell you what, I don't know if I'm going to be gorpcore
but I'm going to be bloody hot.
That's a big, big look, isn't it?
That is a bit too much. This is perfect. Ready to gorp out? Yeah, big time.
It is one of the words of the year, potentially. Potentially. Gorpcore.
You're wearing gorpcore! You know it?!
It is gorgeous. You're doing a bit of gorp, aren't you?
Well, I am. You're doing what you can.
This, to be fair, is a little bit gorpcore.
And this is gorpcore, you didn't realise you were a bit gorpcore. Oh, wow.
Spread the word. Get everyone on the site wearing gorpcore.
Here you go.
Put that on. Hat on.
Love it.
Have fun, gorpcoring. Where are we off to? Nando's? See you later. Bye, guys!
Next up, Emma Dabiri and June Sarpong unpick words about race.
Was that culture jacket? Just dumb!
Mae Martin is back to explore a couple of gender neutral
words with the writer Jack Monroe. It means non-binary.
Would you use that word?
And those intrepid surfers of the zeitgeist Jamie Laing
and Rick Edwards give some new food fads a go.
I feel like I'm going into hypoglycaemic shock immediately!
Welcome back to the Word of the Year,
where some of our favourite celebrities are getting their
chops around this year's most interesting words...
You realise I'm going to use these words on the golf course tomorrow!
..before we find out later which word has nabbed the title.
Could it be avolatte?
What are you doing? Are you joking? Do you want me to get you a cup?
No, this is called an avolatte.
If you don't know about it, it means you're too old.
You drink latte from an avocado. Why?
Cos we're millennials, and that's what we do with food.
Ah, now this, this may be why I don't understand what
an avolatte is. I found out recently I'm a xennial.
So, a xennial is a Microgeneration between Generation X
and millennials.
And our generation don't understand things like this.
Your mob are all digital natives.
I can remember a time before computers and cellphones.
You don't understand the kind of communication we were doing.
Have you even done any semaphore?
With flags? Have you ever done that? What the hell is a semaphore?
Exactly my point.
Whatever your generation,
one thing that always has an impact on our language is social change.
Right now, new words are particularly coming to the
fore thanks to shifting social attitudes to identity.
Here's Mae Martin and writer Jack Monroe on a pair of helpful
new words about gender.
You might have noticed that we both look a little bit boyish.
But whereas I constantly get mistaken for a boy,
I'm quite clear that my gender is female.
Whereas I'm non-binary,
so sometimes I wake up girly and sometimes I wake up more boyish
and sometimes I just slide around between the two.
If you're non-binary and don't want to call yourself a man or a woman,
there's a new word this year that you could be using instead.
This one, enby, which is E-N-B-Y... Mm-hm.
It means non-binary. Yeah. Would you use that word?
I, I don't think I'm cool enough to call myself an enby. It's cool?
I think I see people on Twitter who hashtag enby
and I'm just like, I don't think I'm quite there. Ah!
I'm not in that gang. OK. Despite being a non-binary person.
But...I think it's a term that is really useful for helping
people to find each other.
It easier to have language that people can identify with.
There's also a new title you can use if you want to keep things gender neutral.
So, there is Mr and there's Ms and now there's Mx.
I mean, ideally, we'd scrap titles altogether
because unless you're a lord or a doctor or something, I mean,
titles are just a bit boring, aren't they?
They come from a time when you're worth was tied to
whether you were married or not married or... Yeah.
So, that's where we got Ms from, was from,
"Actually, it's not your business if I'm a married woman."
And now we've got Mx and that's a shift onto,
"My gender is none of your damn business."
You're right, it's kind of crucial if you're a lord
and that's about it. Yeah, you know, you got some kind of status.
But being a man isn't status.
And not being a man isn't a status,
so, I think gender titles are just... I agree.
Time now to head back into the kitchen, where Jamie Laing
and Rick Edwards are ready to test more of the latest fads in food.
Ah. This straw is in.
This year, a key trend has been to nick words from childhood
storybooks and apply them to food and drink.
Cheers. Mermaid smoothie! It's like being on Sunday brunch.
Words like mermaid to describe anything blue or green.
Or unicorn to describe things that are multicoloured and sparkly.
Right, OK, so we're going to make some unicorn toast. OK.
You know unicorn toast? Well, I know what unicorns are.
It's a food trend whereby people are trying to make nicely
coloured food to try and cheer themselves up.
Would it cheer you up? Well, let's find out.
The unicorn trend, which has been huge this year on Instagram,
does seem to be driven by a desire to counter gloomy news.
It says, "Hey! If we all just eat things like coloured
"marshmallow fluff on toast..."
Put your sprinkles on. OK. Be a good boy.
"..maybe we can forget about Trump, terrorism and Brexit."
I love it! It's awful, isn't it? I love it! It's really awful! No!
I feel like I'm going into hypoglycaemic shock immediately!
Style over substance isn't always the case,
with our latest food trends.
Veganism is on the rise among young people
and this year more and more of them have been trying a new
vegan egg white substitute, with an interesting name.
OK, hang on, so, you put this in here.
Get off!
Blending the Latin words for water and bean,
the term aquafaba was coined in March, 2015,
by an American who discovered that if you whisk up the water
from a tin of chickpeas, it'll froth up like beaten egg whites.
Oh, wait, Rick, Rick! Are we done? I reckon.
With icing sugar added, whisked aquafaba becomes vegan merengue.
And do you know what you do with meringues, which is very fun,
is that, you know when a meringue is made, especially
the mixture is, you can turn the bowl upside down on your head. Oh...
So, without even checking it out, I'm going to go straight up. Yeah?
Because I think that's ready. Let's have a look. See, open it up...
Ooh, I don't know if that's ready! RICK LAUGHS
But like you say, you're just going to go straight in and do it. So...
Love it! Absolutely love it! Yeah! Ha-ha! Yes!
Good! Merengue! Done!
When they are cooked, aquafaba meringues LOOK completely normal.
But how do they taste? Are you ready? Yeah.
THEY CRUNCH
Hmm. Eurgh, what's happening?
There's a certain... Oh, my God! What is that?
There's a certain...unusual flavour in there.
THEY LAUGH
So, what we're saying is, this has revolutionised the lives
of vegans because now they can have this disgusting meringue!
THEY LAUGH
Our next lot of potential words of the year are all about race.
Joining the academic Emma Dabiri now, to discuss them,
is the broadcaster and writer, June Sarpong.
And first on the list is woke.
When you're aware of things. When you, yeah, when you are aware.
Like, socially conscious.
I love woke as a word because when you hear it, instinctively
you know what it means, you know, it's about being awake.
I have a dream that one day...
The word woke has been tied to the black civil rights movement
since the 1960s.
But this year, it has seen a surge in use by people wanting to
show they have a social conscience on all kinds of issues.
Not just race.
I worry that it's become something of a little virtue-signalling
shortcut to cool. Hashtag woke, yeah, tick the box!
It does concern me,
when black people are excluded from a word that was
created in their culture.
So, I think it's very important to be mindful of that.
Mm-hm. But also, the wonderful thing about social media is
when that happens, it will be called out because people are woke.
Exactly! We have another word in the running for Word of the Year.
And this is, I have to admit, not one that I was familiar with,
but it's culturejacking. OK!
It's something quite heavily associated with brands
and with the intention of taking it,
kind of specifically for monetary or financial gain.
Oh, wow! Corporate. I understand it.
# We are the lions We are the chosen... #
This year, culturejacking has come to the fore,
partly because of an ad campaign by Pepsi.
Which was released in April, then swiftly cancelled.
In it, Kendall Jenner joins the civil rights march
and then hands a can of Pepsi to a policeman as a peace offering.
# We gonna shine out the dark. #
At a time of increasing racial tension in America,
many people found it deeply offensive.
Was that culture jacking or just dumb? Yeah, that...
THEY LAUGH
Yeah, definitely dumb. Dumb! That would be a good example of culturejacking.
Yeah, I am speechless. Like, I don't know what was the thought process.
And the amount of people, executives that went through...
Who would have had to sign off on it! And then I started to think, "Oh, is this some kind of
"reverse psychology, did they know this was going to backfire?"
Because there's no way nobody thought, "Ooh, maybe this is a bad idea."
Two of this year's most important new
terms about race are actually about white people.
The first, white fragility,
describes the feelings of defensiveness that often
come into play when white people are faced with the reality of racism.
Why don't you just keep calm?
The second, white privilege,
refers to the advantages that go hand-in-hand with being white.
So, what do you think of white privilege, the word,
or the phrase, that's being considered? Well, it's real.
There was a time where there was no real word to explain what it
means to live in a society where you are part of the dominant culture.
If you look at what we see on television, what we see on billboards, everywhere you look,
the standard of what is considered normal. Mm.
And anything that isn't that, is abnormal. Abnormal.
Now, if you are part of that, because it's so commonplace,
you don't even realise that privilege. Mm-hm.
I used to always, I would have, like, friends who would be like,
"Oh, Emma, can you just, like, give it a rest? Like, you're still..." Going on! The angry black women!
"..banging on about race, like, you are always thinking about it!"
And I was just like, to have the...option... The luxury. ..to STOP thinking about it,
THAT is white privilege just completely embodied.
Once we get the language right around these issues, then it means
we can have honest dialogue and then we can begin to make some headway.
Yeah. I totally agree.
Given the choice, if you were the judge,
do you have a personal favourite?
Yeah, I do, actually. I think I'm going to go for woke. OK.
What about you? Erm, I think I'd go for,
probably for white privilege just because
it's been so helpful in naming something that has been invisible.
Forever. I think it's a very, very helpful, helpful word, so, yeah.
In our final part, we've got a word that's taken social media by storm.
Oh, so, he's a milkshake duck? He is exactly a milkshake duck, yeah.
We've got politics... Jo Brand is a pagan!
..and we've got the Word of the Year winner.
Yes!
Welcome back.
Shortly we'll find out which word has snared the title of Oxford
Dictionary's Word Of The Year for 2017, but first let's talk politics.
70 years ago George Orwell said that political language
was designed to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind,
and Boris Johnson wasn't even born then.
He's just an Islingtonian herbivore,
a muddleheaded, muddleheaded mugwump, or whatever.
It's been a turbulent year in British politics.
A year marked by Brexit arguments, terror attacks,
and a snap general election
that hugely weakened the government's position.
It's not surprising, then, that most of the political words
in the running for the Word Of The Year are, in fact, insults.
So, one word that is blazing through politics this year is Corbynista.
Yes. What do we think of that?
I think it's really interesting that it can be used in
a very negative and a very positive way.
People who really like Jeremy Corbyn think it's a positive word.
Corbynista used to mean someone
who was a fan of the Corby trouser press.
There weren't very many of them but they were very well turned out.
CHEERING
By saying Corbynista, rather than Corbynite, Corbyn's opponents
are injecting his name both with the fluffiness of the word fashionista
and the left-wing vibe of a 1970s Sandinista movement.
# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn
# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn. #
Insults, of course, are common on both sides of the house.
Theresa May has spent much of this year being called the Maybot.
Strong and stable leadership.
Strong and stable.
Strong.
As I say...
strong and stable leadership.
But that wasn't the only jibe thrown in her direction this year.
Stormzy!
At the GQ awards in September, the grime artist Stormzy called her
a word that many white people had never heard before.
I do want to use this to say Theresa May is a paigon
and you know what we are doing, right now?
Yeah, trust me. Yeah, it's awkward, isn't it, when I say that, isn't it?
Yeah. Trust.
Lots of people hadn't heard the word paigon before.
Well, I had heard it but I thought it was to do with me
running naked around Stonehenge
with the Druids. Jo Brand is a pagan!
It's spelt differently, isn't it? It is P-A-I-G-O-N. Yes.
It's an insulting word and it means two-faced.
What's so fascinating, I think, is that you can live in the same city
and yet a subculture has a completely different language,
and then millions of white people are going, "Excuse me?"
"Can you tell me what it means?" I say, yes!
"Is it a rude word?" Yes. "Can I use it at work tomorrow to my boss?"
The word paigon has been in the urban dictionary since 2008,
but its use by Stormzy to diss the Prime Minister in public brought it
to the attention of the mainstream media this year for the first time.
It's a common fallacy to think if a word is new to you
that it is new, but very often it's not,
and so a word can often exist in a particular community
and then it suddenly explodes into the mainstream,
and we see it crossing over,
and that's the kind of shift that we would want to document
and would make something suitable for our Word Of The Year.
When Labour did much better at the election than anyone
had predicted, partly thanks to the support of people like Stormzy,
who helped to mobilise younger voters...
Young people are fizzing with ideas.
..journalists dubbed it a youthquake.
Youthquake is what happened when Corbyn,
like the Pied Piper of Hamlyn, except with all the lovely, young,
intelligent, attractive people. Most of you who are here tonight
all followed him and love him. That was a youthquake.
Not to mention the other time,
and that was when I fell out of my bunk bed at Guides in 1967.
Interestingly this wasn't our first youthquake.
If you look back to the Oxford English dictionary you will find
that that first happened in the 1960s and the first tremors
of the youthquake came not from a political phenomenon
but from the miniskirt.
It was used very much in relation to Mary Quant, who, of course,
popularised this scandalous garment.
Youthquake disappeared under the radar for quite a while
but it certainly came back into prominence this year.
The reason why so many of the words we've been exploring
have caught on is because of social media.
But it's social media itself which is the subject of our final word.
Milkshake duck.
It came from a tweet in June last year which described a lovely,
milkshake-drinking duck that turned out to be racist.
A milkshake duck is basically where someone becomes a huge hit
overnight, basically like a social media kind of influencer
type thing, all overnight, and they do something.
Suddenly that brings them back down to not famous.
Are you saying it is like they are quickly up
and suddenly everyone's talking about them and everyone loves them
and then something else becomes apparent
and then they plummet again?
Must be horrible for that to happen to someone. Yes.
I think the idea is that normally they'd sort of
deserve it to happen because they are not...
Oh, they do something... ..particularly nice. OK.
One famous example of a milkshake duck this year
was the story of Harvey the Hawk.
When, in August, Texas was lashed by Hurricane Harvey
a taxi driver hit the headlines for rescuing a hawk from the storm.
So, the guy with the Hawk. The guy who drove a hawk home. What...?
Was it called Harvey? I think the Hawk was called Harvey?
And everyone was like, "Amazing, amazing."
And then it turned out he was quite a very right-wing man.
He just kind of hunkered down with us, being a hawk.
When he posted a video update from his home on how the Hawk was
doing, the taxi driver accidentally revealed a flag symbolising
white supremacy, and suddenly, in the eyes of social media,
he went from hero to zero.
Oh, so he's a milkshake duck.
He is exactly a milkshake duck. Yeah, or a milkshake hawk.
# Quack quack quack Quack-quack quack-quack-quack
# Quack quack quack Quack quack quack. #
I'm disappointed that we just did that on television actually.
And that brings us to the moment of truth.
We've looked at almost 40 different words
that have caught the public imagination in 2017.
What would you say your word of the year is? Antifa.
Definitely for me it's mansplaining.
I'm going to go for woke.
If I had to pick one, unicorn.
What would you pick? I think xennial.
Some have inspired us...
White privilege,
cos it has been so helpful in
naming something that has been invisible.
Firgun. We should be focusing our lives around that. Absolutely.
It's so beautiful.
..others we might think best forgotten.
Oh, my God!
But only one can win Word Of The Year.
So here, in our own version of Dictionary Corner,
is Susie Dent with the announcement.
It now gives me great pleasure to announce that Oxford Dictionary's
Word Of The Year for 2017 is...
Youthquake.
Defined as a significant cultural,
political or social change arising from the actions
or influence of young people, the word youthquake
declares to the world that young people can make a difference.
Yes!
This is for the young people who can actually make change happen.
Yay! They can bring about huge revolutions really
in not only the way we think that the way we live our lives
and the way in which we rule our country
so let's celebrate the youthquake.
We haven't had too much to celebrate in 2017
but this is something that we finally can.
I'm really pleased about youthquake winning
and I'm pleased about the youth.
Get on with it, youth, I'm too old, I'm going for a lie down.
# It's only words
# And words are all I have
# To take your heart away
# It's only words
# And words are all I have
# To take your heart away
# It's only words
# And words are all I have
# To take your heart away. #
Subtitles by Red Bee Media