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The 2017 Women's March in London Matt Crossick via PA Images

The Oxford Dictionary's word of the year is... 'Youthquake'

It has been used to describe young people driving political change.

YOU MAY NEVER have heard the words “youthquake”, “antifa” and “broflake”, but according to Oxford Dictionaries, they are the words that defined the year 2017.

It has announced that “youthquake” is 2017′s word of the year, reflecting on a climate of deepening political unrest.

The term is defined as “a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people”.

The word was first coined in 1965 by Vogue editor Diana Vreeland who used it to describe the post-war period of tumultuous change in fashion, music and attitudes.

It has seen a 400% increase in usage between 2016 and 2017, with Oxford Dictionary saying that it has been used to describe young people driving political change.

Youthquake’s use in Britain first built momentum this year in the wake of the June general election, when young voters almost carried the Labour Party to an unlikely victory.

[image alt="Capture" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2017/12/capture-1070-296x170.jpg" width="296" height="170" credit-source="Oxford%20Dictionary%20" class="alignnone" /end]

Oxford Dictionaries said the word sounded a note of hope following what it described as a “difficult and divisive year”.

“We chose youthquake based on its evidence and linguistic interest. But most importantly for me, at a time when our language is reflecting a deepening unrest and exhausted nerves, it is a rare political word that sounds a hopeful note,” Oxford Dictionaries president Casper Grathwohl said.

Sometimes you pick a word of the year because you recognise that it has arrived, but other times you pick one that is knocking at the door and you want to help usher it in.

“I think it’s time for a word we can all rally behind. A word we can root for and collectively empower as the word of the year,” he said.

Other words shortlisted for Word of the Year 2017 include:

  • Antifa
  • Broflake
  • Gorpcore
  • Milkshake Duck
  • Newsjacking
  • Unicorn
  • White fragility

The 2016 Word of the Year was “post-truth”, chosen in light of the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.

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    Mute Matt F
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    Dec 15th 2017, 8:30 AM

    I’m a bit “meh” with these Portmanteaus. Embiggen, now there was a cromulent neologism I could get behind.

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Dec 15th 2017, 8:36 AM

    @Matt F: TOP OF THE STAIRS ,TURN RIGHT

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    Mute Rachael Ball
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    Dec 15th 2017, 8:55 AM

    At least give a link to the page that defines the shortlisted words if you can’t be arsed to actually put in definitions https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-of-the-year/shortlist-2017

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    Mute purple rain
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    Dec 15th 2017, 9:21 AM

    …of the year? funny i didnt come across any of them this year until they announced it .

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    Mute The Girl
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    Dec 15th 2017, 9:45 AM

    Unicorn? I thought that was a word already.

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    Mute Honeybadger197
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    Dec 15th 2017, 8:11 AM

    I’ve read/heard of 3 of those. Thankfully.

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    Mute Woke Bloke
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    Dec 15th 2017, 10:44 AM

    I see the poison has now infiltrated the dictionary…

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    Mute Veronica
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    Dec 15th 2017, 8:55 AM

    What on earth is a “milkshake duck”?? Ducks bringing all the boys to their yard?

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Dec 15th 2017, 2:36 PM

    @Veronica: Seems to be any iconic figure assumed to be perfectly lovable then discredited overnight by exposure.

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    Mute Gareth Cooney
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    Dec 15th 2017, 9:32 AM

    This month 30 years ago Prince coined a new word called Housequake……. a quake of a different sort.

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    Mute Celia Ham
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    Dec 15th 2017, 4:20 PM

    Saddens me to see that instead of speak honestly and simply say things as they are people decided to go for those stupid extremely irritating buzz invented words .
    Makes my skin crawl when the PC vocabulary, the corporatise non speech and other forms of b*llsh*t takes over any type of conversation. Politicians are known for that the art of wasting time and not answer any straight questions

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    Mute Celia Ham
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    Dec 15th 2017, 4:23 PM

    @Celia Ham: # corporative non speech ( dumb phone)

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