Macquarie WOTY: muffin top

Thu Jan 25 14:23:07 UTC 2007

Lynne,

I'm always way behind in this stuff, but I sure like "stud-muffin
top." Probably ain't new. I saw it in the NYDaily News Daily Dish at

www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/330221p-281994c.html

Here tis.

dInIs

Muffin-top mayhem!

Can you smell what's cooking in New York? It's a
fresh batch of muffin tops - summer's new faux pas

By MARK ELLWOOD
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Ladies, it's time to admit the pants don't fit...
...Trash 'em and keep your spare tire under wraps.
Kelly Clarkson looks great, usually. But what was up with this getup
at a recent concert?
Forget wearing white after Labor Day - there's a new fashion violation in town.

It's called a muffin top: that unsightly roll of flesh that spills
over the waist of a pair of too-tight pants, like a muffin bursting
out of the pan. And this fashion affliction hits celebrities as much
as civilians, according to In Touch magazine's Jarrett Weiselman.
"Queen of the muffin top is Courtney Love," he says. "And before she
got pregnant, Britney Spears was also guilty."

Christina Aguilera is a reformed muffin topper, often spotted onstage
during her wild-child period in a pair of badly fitting pants
accessorized with an ample tummy roll. Kelly Clarkson is also a
repeat offender. "Especially when Kelly first won 'American Idol,'
the muffin top was the one thing that was common in everything she
wore - nothing fit right." And her tummy can still be seen rising
over the pants she's poured herself into on tour this month.

And it isn't just femme fatales that shop at the belly bakery; screen
hunks can sometimes fall victim, too. Their condition? Stud-muffin
top.

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Lynne Murphy <m.l.murphy at SUSSEX.AC.UK>
>Subject:      Re: Macquarie WOTY: muffin top
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Well, that rather puts a damper on my claim that it's an AmE word, doesn't
>it?
>
>(see:
><http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/01/words-of-year-2006.
>html>)
>
>Can anyone antedate their 2005 Kath & Kim claim?
>
>Lynne
>
>--On 24 January 2007 09:18 +0000 Benjamin Zimmer
><bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU> wrote:
>
>>  -----
>>  http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/WOTY/WordOfYearWinners.html
>>
>>  Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year 2006
>>
>>  The Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year Committee comprises:
>>
>>  Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Professor Gavin Brown
>>    Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Sydney, Professor
>>  Stephen Garton
>>    Publisher of the Macquarie Dictionary, Susan Butler.
>>
>>  The results in each category were determined by voting on the
>>  Macquarie Dictionary website and were as follows:
>>  General Interest: affluenza
>>  Colloquialism: muffin top
>>  Specialist terms: administrivia
>>  The Political Scene: plausible deniability
>>  Eating and Drinking: ethical eating
>>  Fashion: ubersexual
>>  Travel: envirotourism
>>  Technology: cyberstalking
>>  The Environment: water trading
>>  Sport: blood doping
>>  Health: norovirus
>>
>>  The Committee's choice of Word of the Year for 2006:
>>
>>  muffin top
>>   noun Colloquial the fold of fat around the midriff which, on an
>>  overweight woman, spills out over the top of tight-fitting pants or
>>  skirts.
>>
>>  This seems to be an Australian creation which has spread around the
>>  world, carried on by the popularity of Kath and Kim. It made news in
>>  New York in 2005 and was one of the words nominated for the American
>>  Dialect Society's Word of the Year Most Creative section. It was
>>  pipped at the post by whale tail, the bit of the g-string or thong
>>  that shows above the waistband at the back of pants.
>>
>>  The Committee thought that the vivid imagery of this word with its
>>  sense of playfulness and the fact that it is an Australianism made it
>>  the clear winner.
>>
>>  The Committee would like to give honourable mention to:
>  >
>>  affluenza
>>   noun the dissatisfaction that accompanies consumerism as a path to
>>  happiness.
>>
>>  The definition which seems current for the rest of the world is 'the
>>  psychological malaise suffered by wealthy young people with symptoms
>>  of lack of motivation and feelings of guilt'. In Australia the meaning
>>  has been generalised to cover a widespread social phenomenon, not just
>>  a malaise of the rich.
>>
>>  The Committee felt that this word framed a concept that was
>>  significant in the community and for which there was no other word.
>>  The coinage was neat, almost too neat, and, unlike many attempts at
>>  creating new words by blending, did lead to a reasonable grasp of the
>>  meaning from an analysis of its parts (affluent + influenza).
>>
>>  administrivia
>>    plural noun  the miscellaneous organisational details relating to
>>  the administration of a project, organisation, etc.
>>
>>  This again is a blend, in this instance of administration and trivia,
>>  but trivia in the sense of miscellaneous and often seemingly unrelated
>>  detail. The word has been in use in some organisational circles for
>>  almost a decade but seems to have gained wider use in the community,
>>  perhaps in response to the feeling that more people now have to do
>>  their own administrivia rather than pass it on to someone else.
>>
>>  plausible deniability
>>   noun a carefully crafted situation in which a member of government
>>  can deny any association with any illegal or unpopular activities
>>  carried out by servants of the government in the event that these
>>  activities become public.
>>
>>  This term was first used by the CIA in relation to their activities in
>>  the Kennedy Administration. It does seem to have become a key feature
>>  of the American, British and Australian governments over the last
>>  decade.
>>  -----
>
>
>
>Dr M Lynne Murphy
>Senior Lecturer and Head of Department
>Linguistics and English Language
>Arts B135
>University of Sussex
>Brighton BN1 9QN
>
>phone: +44-(0)1273-678844
>http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
>
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