The Chaser Report - 2023's Word Of The Year

Episode Date: November 28, 2023

Dom takes a walk down the Macquarie's Word Of The year list for 2023, and Charles tries to guess what they mean. CHALLENGE: If you can accurately guess more of these than Charles, congratulations: you aren't as old and out of touch as him. Hahahaha. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gatigal Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to The Chaser Report with Dom and Charles. Now, Charles, one of the great delights of my years presenting the evening show on ABC Radio Sydney and across New South Wales and the OCT was the Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year shortlist. It was just fabulous content for end of year, lighthearted, bit of a chat, and I used to get a solid half hour or more of quality radio out of it, talking to the former editor, Sue Butler.

My mum used to work from Macquarie Dictionary, too, as well. So there's a long family tradition in looking at the words of the year, but I've never done it before on the Chaser Report with considerably less respect. Yeah, so, okay, so we don't have to stick to sort of light-hearted, slightly mediocre bander. We can attack the list, is what I'm saying. Yeah, great. Something I couldn't do before. Let's crack into it after this.

Thank you for your patience. Your call is important. Can't take being on hold anymore? FIS is 100% online, so you can make the switch in minutes. Mobile plans start at $15 a month. Certain conditions apply. Details at FIS.C. Should we start with the word of the year or work up to it?

Because people will have read what it is. Oh, no, we've got to work up to it. Oh, okay. You can. You don't know what it is. It's a complete mystery. We got the suspense going. Is it in shittification?

It's not in shittification. So they've been shittified the word. However, I will say this. The Word of the Year was featured very prominently on this podcast months ago in an interview with Culture Specialist and Lovapier. So if people heard that episode, you'll know what it is. I didn't listen to that. No, you didn't listen to it.

But nevertheless, it was impressive to see how on the pulse she was, or alternatively, how kind of middle-aged and boring in Macquarie Dictionary. She does do a podcast called Schmikegeist, which suggests that she should be up on the zeitgeist. In theory. Anyway, so we'll get to that. So, the first word on the short list, this is all alphabetical. Algo speak, Charles, which is most episodes to the podcast.

Okay, should we do it where I have to guess what it means? Yep, Algo speak. What is Algo speak? Well, I presume it's some sort of like algae that has learned to speak because of the drought in the Murray-Darling Basin. That is correct, and it has a show on Sky News. It's one of the most credible presidences that they have. No, it's not. It's scum.

It's scum. It's scum. It's literal scum from a pod. One of the better presenters on Sky News right now. Okay. Algo speeds, obviously algorithm. So, oh, is it when you try and optimize what you're saying to suit the algorithm so you get viral content? So that's what you would do.

But no, it's actually the opposite. It's a way around moderation algorithms. So instead of saying sex, you say, S-E-W-G-S, instead of saying dead or kill you, say, unalive. And this is particularly useful in China. You might remember that Winnie the Pooh was used to refer to Xi Jinping and so on. So, yes, it's a way of getting around moderation algorithms. It's like on Reddit, they don't say the R word.

They say, I'm well regarded. Do they? Yeah, when they're wanting to insult themselves. Yeah, it's like if you don't say Dutton, you say Lord Potato. Well, yeah, you say roasted potato. Yeah, yeah, mashed potato. Okay, so that's our ghost speak. Okay.

The next one is angry water. Ooh, okay. Well, I presume this is also related to the Murray-Darling basin. Quite possibly. Yeah, the government just brought back a whole lot of angry water. Is it the water that Barnaby Joyce consumes after a night out? And the water becomes very angry about having to interact with all the horrible beer that he's had. I'm just imagining that, yeah, water that makes you angry would be beer, wouldn't it?

I'm so angry. I'm going to drink this water. No, it's carbonated water So it's, um, it's fizzy water The water gets angry when it gets fizzy Because it's, you know, shakes around Much less interesting than your definition Is it particular, like is it particularly carbonated or just any carbonated water?

Oh, well, I suppose it's interesting I imagine it's a cute thing that a kid said or something like that And people thought it was funny Oh, that's so angry that water So far, your definitions are better than the ones that they've given And the next one we've discussed in the podcast as well I've always said I should write a dictionary, Dom. should. The next one is something we've discussed on the podcast before, because if you listen

to this podcast, you're in touch with all that is happening in the world. Yes. It is Basball. Yeah, I do remember that. Have you forgotten what Bazball is? Have you seriously forgotten what Basball is? Basble, Bazbole. A exhausted man. Touring the country for the war on 2023. War on 2020.com. Forgotten one of the major stories of the year. Yeah, no, basball is the British team doing that stupid thing where they lost every game because they thought that test cricket was the same as T20. The thing where basically they tried to play like Australia normally does. Yes.

Although Australia adapts its playing style to suit the conditions. Yes. And England just goes hard regardless. And what it meant was you could predict exactly what England would do, which is smash the ball. So you could set the field knowing that they were going to do that. Yeah. So in other words, it says here it's an aggressive style of play, especially at the batting

side, named after Baz, Brendan Barry McCullum, who trained England to play in this manner. But it should actually be a strategy that will lose the ashes. That's what it should be defined as. And Nick Bryant, friend of the show, wrote a fantastic article in, I think, the herald or the Guardian or something, about how Bazball was very similar to Brexit. Right. In that, it was sort of like, oh, yeah, yeah, like, we, the British show, the English showed everyone was up and, you know, it's really good, except they didn't, they lost. They lost,

but they sort of acted as if they'd won. Yes, it was a triumphant act of massive self-harm. Yes, that's right. That's right. Okay. Uh, blue sky flood. A blue sky flood is related to the Murray darling. It could be, actually. Yeah, okay. Well, I presume it's some sort of, is it a climate change thing where you, um, I'm sorry, you get the theory out. Well, I'm thinking, like, blue sky flood, is that like an endless flood, like something that we've, you know. Oh, like a sort of blue sky idea, like a crypto flight or something like that. Yeah, yeah. No, what all it means is that basically what happens is in our climate change-fueled system.

It is very heavy rainfall. And the water, the catchment gets saturated. The water makes its way into the rivers. And then flooding happens after the sky's blue again. So basically it's just the observation that flooding can happen long after the actual storm. Which is absolutely true on the Murrumbitchie River not long ago. Lots of flooding, even though the storm had long passed. So, yeah, this is just normal, actually, in much of Australia.

Yeah, right. That's blue sky flooding. What about Bopo? Yeah, I did see Bopo. I had no idea what it was. It'll be a contraction of two words. Yes, like Pomo. It'll be like Bohemian postmodernist.

Bohemian postmodernist. Are you a bohemian postmodernist? Is that how you see yourself? Oh, yeah. I'm very bohemian. Bipo is body positivity. Ah, right. Oh, okay.

Ready, oh, that's good. Looking in the mirror and being like, yeah. Yeah, all right. I'm a bit of a thing. Oh, I'm not, bo-po. No, no, no, no, no, no, but I don't think it's about oneself. You're no-bo-po. Yeah, no-bo-bo.

I think it actually means just in general, you know, not body-shaming. It's the opposite. The opposite of basically the whole of the media. Well, I believe in Bo-Poe then. Good. Yeah. I'm a bo-po. When I decided not to do anything about balding and not have rogay or any of any other shit you can put on your hair to stop it,

that was me being body positive and just going, eh, fuck it. I love how Bopo is used to describe just genuinely negative things about your own body. I'm positive about how I should I hate my body. All right. Coming on here. Bore out. Oh, that's a great word. That's good.

Look, you don't even need a definition. Like, that's what this podcast is. It's a total boreout. So it's a combination of bore and burnout. And especially when you stop giving a shit about your work, you're not interested in it anymore. And you just kind of slowly fade away. It possibly then leads to quiet quitting eventually. Yeah, right, okay.

Okay, what about a bridesmaid suburb? That is, oh, I know what that is. That's like Forest Lodge is to Glebe, which is a Sydney reference, but like it's a suburb that stands next to a good suburb and sort of gets, you know, some of the association without actually being, you know, known as a good suburb. Kind of, yeah, it's kind of like Adelaide compared to Melbourne. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, so no, it's a suburb that surrounds the most expensive or sought-after suburb.

It's from the, you know, always the Bridesmaid, never the Bride kind of thing. Yeah. Just next to and not as important as. Yeah. It's like, um... It's like when you see the War in 2023, you get to see that guy from the shovel and then Charles, next to him. James Schleffle, a talented comedian. Yeah, he's very good.

Australia's best satirist. I think, judging by the amount of applause, the brides, the brides of the show are Gabby and Mark, and James and I are the brides. Brides modes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I'm the bridesmaids, bride's bridesmaid. Yeah.

Well, in many ways you believe the bridesmaids, bridesmaid's, right? Okay. Yeah. Well, but, I mean, you can't compare with all those years of Mark Humphrey's confirming people's sort of prejudices on the ABC. I mean, that's... No, I know, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, right.

People turn up and all the 80-year-olds are in love with Mark. Of course they are. Yeah. And that's the way it should be. Thank you for your patience. Your call is important. Can't take being on hold anymore. FIS is 100% online, so you can make the switch in minutes.

Mobile plans start at $15 a month. Certain conditions apply. Details at FIS.C. The Chaser Report, news you can't trust. Okay, come up next. We have COSI lives. Cozy lives. Well, that'll be.

I presume that's to do with your togs, like your swimmers. Is it cosy? Cozy living in your cozies. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Cozy lives. I actually love this one. It's cost of living, but said in such a way that you're kind of, it's kind of cool and hip, even though it's awful.

But it's kind of like mockingly talking about something terrible as though it's affectionately. Yeah, so it's like, I was down at the supermarket and I couldn't buy a roast chicken because of cosy lives. Yeah, or it's a bit like, you know how lockdown was called Locky Dee? As though it was like it's cool. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. Oh, good. That's kind of ironic. Nice. Yeah. I'm a little bit disturbed by how few, like I always think of myself as a bit,

finger on the pulse, hip to the groove. I think I've got zero correct so far, have I thought you were trying. What about a crash blossom? This one you've got to know, because it's not intuitive. Crash blossom. Okay. This is, I know this, this is when, you know how old people sometimes have the name, you know, blossom or petal or, you know, like they actually have quite sort of, you know, Ancient names, this is when one of them crashes into a supermarket because they're not very good of driving. Yeah, this is related to the terrible 1990 TV show Blossom. What? No, it's not at all.

It's a, it's a phenomenon which we've always enjoyed it, Jason, where a news headline or something like that is ambiguous because of poor writing. So it's from this great headline from a newspaper called Japan Today in 2009, a violinist linked to J.A. or Crash Blossoms. Say that again. So airline linked to J.A.L. So violinist linked to J.A.L. Crash blossoms. Right. Crash blossom. Yeah, yeah.

So what it's saying is this violinist has become really good. And she was linked to J.A. Airline crash. Yeah, she was responsible for the crash. It's the other way of reading it. Yeah. Okay, yeah, right. All right. Well, you might know this one, Charles.

Yeah. What about a doof stick? A dof stick. Oh, dof stick. Oh, dof stick's easy. What's a dof stick? Is it a cigarette? Do you know what a doof is?

Doof is like dance, dancing. Yeah, see, that's a 90s term. That's from when we were young. Yeah, yeah. They still call them doffs. So a doof stick is, what, a dance stick? It's a strange idea. It's when you go to a music festival or a dof or something.

You bring a long stick with like a flag on it or like a color. So your friends can find you. Okay. Yeah, so you just look for the dof stick. Okay. I'll have a dof stick with the chaser logo. Yeah, I think. I can't.

I don't imagine this is widely used. I don't think anyone goes to doffs anymore. If you go to a dof, contact us. You want to be invited? You want to be invited? Yeah, invite us along. You know that there's such a thing as... We'll bring in the stick.

There's a bush doff. Yeah, there is a remote property or whatever. Oh, my neighbour, my sort of neighbour who's, you know, quite young, goes to doffs. There you go. All the time. Probably with a doof stick. Just say, next time you see the neighbour, just be like, you've got a doof stick. Or I'll give him a dof stick for Christmas.

That should be a chaser merch product. Doofs stick. Okay. Now, this is the sort of thing you like, Charles. What about this? Debt trap diplomacy. Oh, well, it's easy. That's exactly what China has been engaging in. But IMF pioneered it in the World Bank, which is you load up your neighbors and your allies with a whole lot of debt, and then you can control them. That's it. Yep, Belt and Road. The belt actually holds you down. Like, they were very upfront about what a tit. Yeah. Yeah, that's what... And China's been getting really annoyed at the West because instead or...

They thought, oh, they'll be in a debt trap for years, we'll just be able to control especially these African nations that have... Yeah, and the Pacific Islands and all that. And instead, the IMF's coming in and going, oh, well, we'll help you refinance your debt using IMF. Then you know our ass money instead. Yeah, yeah. And you can be beholden to us. Okay.

What about this? This actually, I think, applies to you, Charles, the doorway effect. Ah, yes. This is when you're very good looking and when you go through a door. everyone goes, oh, he's so good-looking. It's worth that, even Charles doesn't take that too. I never heard of this. This is a psychological phenomenon in which your short-term memory is disrupted when you cross

some sort of boundary. So you go into one room from one room to another. Yes. And you just forget what you were doing. Yes, you go, you walk into a room. You go, why was I walking into this room? That happens all the time. Yes, it's also known as early onset dimension.

Demental age. Let's finish this. We'll do a volume two of this tomorrow, Charles, because this is so important. Oh, right. Yeah, so we're not that far along. No, no. How many words are? We're halfway through the list.

It's just very, um, very weighted to the first half of the alphabet. And we'll finish with, I think, your favorite, um, your favorite word or, I mean, we always have this argument about whether a phrase is a word, but they say yes, it is. Otherwise, none of these words are new, like there are very few of them, causey lives, maybe, but the rest of them are all, just new combinations of words to mean an idea. Generative AI. Oh, well, that's easy. Yeah.

Generative AI. See any other episode of this podcast. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. process of capital using technology to steal the work of humans. Yeah, steal the work of humans and repackage it in a much shitter version. Yeah, that's right.

That's it. It's a bit like Rove. All right, we'll have more of this. I hope you enjoyed this tour through the words of 2023. Charles is, I think, one from about 12. Maybe we should do some more ABC local radio content. We should. Yeah.

And if you can see any traffic on the roads, just email podcasts at chaser. from the A.U. And we'll put it in the traffic report in a future episode. Oh, that's a great idea. Good idea, isn't it? Yeah. And they can even text you. Yeah, see, most podcasts don't have traffic reports. They don't, but now we do. Thank you for your patience. Your call is important. Can't take being on hold anymore. FIS is 100% online, so you can make the switch in minutes. Mobile plans start at $15 a month. Certain conditions apply. Details at fizz.ca.