Aussies whip out their a*se antlers

Hot competition for word of the year

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 10th January 2008 12:18 GMT

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Lovers of the English language in all its glory have until 31 January to vote for the online Macquarie Dictionary word of the year from a splendid selection of neologisms and rather more familiar terms.

Reg readers will, of course, be au fait with offerings such as "bloatware", "Web 2.0" and the "Great Firewall of China", but what about "arse antlers", "toad juice" or "lady garden"?

Well, according to Macquarie these last three are "a tattoo just above the buttocks, having a central section and curving extensions on each side", "liquid fertiliser produced from pulverised cane toads" and "a woman's pubic region", respectively.

Also up for consideration are the increasingly popular "man flu", plus "tart fuel" ("wine coolers and alcopops, viewed by men as deceptively alcoholic drinks that will lower a woman's resistance to sexual advances") and "tanorexia", as exemplified by Goldenballs's squeeze Posh.

In total, there are five words in each of 17 categories, with the winner to be announced in February. Mercifully, "blogosphere" is not among the options, so there's still hope for our beloved mother tongue. ®

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