The word – meaning a situation which is shambolic from every possible
angle – was coined in 2009 by the writers of BBC political satire The
Thick of It. But it has crossed over into real life this year, said
the judges.
Continue reading the main story Other shortlisted words
Eurogeddon Mummy porn Games maker Mobot Second screening Pleb "Pleb" –
an old word given new life by claims Conservative Chief Whip Andrew
Mitchell used it to describe police officers in Downing Street – was
also shortlisted.
He denied using the word, a derogatory term for the lower classes, but
was forced to resign as a minister. But it was omnishambles that most
impressed the judges. Fiona McPherson, one of the lexicographers on
the judging panel, said: "It was a word everyone liked, which seemed
to sum up so many of the events over the last 366 days in a beautiful
way.
"It's funny, it's quirky, and it has broken free of its fictional
political beginnings, firstly by spilling over into real politics, and
then into other contexts.
"If influence is any indication of staying power, it has already
staked its claim by being linguistically productive in its own right,
producing a number of related coinages.
"While many of them are probably humorous one-offs, their very
existence shows that the omnishambles itself has entered at least the
familiar parlance, if not quite the common parlance."
'Romneyshambles' Labour leader Ed Miliband, whose phrase "squeezed
middle" – referring to those hit hardest by falling living standards –
was word of the year in 2011, made the first recorded use of
omnishambles in the House of Commons in April.
"Over the last month we have seen the charity tax shambles, the
churches tax shambles, the caravan tax shambles and the pasty tax
shambles," said the Labour leader at Prime Minister's Questions.
"We are all keen to hear the prime minister's view as to why, four
weeks on from the Budget, even people within Downing Street are
calling it an omnishambles Budget."
The word swiftly took off as a favourite term of abuse for opposition
politicians attacking the government.
But it also mutated on social media into humorous new variants such as
"Romneyshambles" – used to describe gaffes by US presidential
candidate Mitt Romney during his visit to the UK – and
omnivoreshambles, referring to the row about a planned badger cull in
England and Wales.
Omnishambles was first heard at the end of an episode in the third
series of The Thick of It, during a characteristically foul-mouthed
rant by spin doctor Malcolm Tucker, played by Peter Capaldi.
There is no guarantee omnishambles, or any of the other shortlisted
words, will make it on to the pages of the Oxford English Dictionary.