Oxford chooses 'omnishambles' as word of the year

[cali]

LONDON (AP) — Britain's media are in a meltdown and its government is gaffe-prone, so Oxford Dictionaries has chosen an apt Word of the Year: "omnishambles."

Oxford University Press on Tuesday crowned the word — defined as "a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations" — its top term of 2012.

Each year Oxford University Press tracks how the English language is changing and chooses a word that best reflects the mood of the year. The publisher typically chooses separate British and American winners. This year's American champion is "gif," short for graphics interchange format, a common format for images on the Internet.

The editors said gif was being recognized for making the crucial transition from noun to verb, "to gif": to create a gif file of an image or video sequence, especially relating to an event. And, inevitably, to share it online. Cute kittens, Olympic champions, President Obama — they've all been giffed.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j798bthvnZN3IkMc8GzSt4nSifIg?docId=0da5074c63b64d1dbaaa1aafb3217d47

I like omnishambles- which I'd not heard before- but gif? How is that a word.

[hobbit709]

1. Omnishambles-describes the Romney campaign.

[Still Sensible]

2. Describes the Rmoney campaign, no? n/t

[fleur-de-lisa]

9. Romneyshambles! - eom

[Jennicut]

3. The entire GOP is in "omnishambles."

There, that made me feel better.

[bluerum]

4. gif - graphics interchange format - one of the first digital image formats

I work in the web biz and have never heard gif used as a verb.

[sharp_stick]

6. I guess you don't

frequent I can has cheezburger or memebase. They love to create little .gif loops and then use the term gif as a verb when referring to it

Like this one from the election, it's one of my favorites.

[bluerum]

8. Like I said. Business. Not recreation.

[Uncle Joe]

5. What a bummer, I had my money on "Poopy Head."

I know that's two words but they go together like peas and carrots.

Thanks for the thread, cali.

[HappyMe]

7. I like omnishambles.

But gif?