Macquarie WOTY: muffin top

[Benjamin Zimmer]

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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.
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