Australia erupts as the surprise ‘word of the year’ is unveiled: ‘Nobody has said this – ever’
Aussies are left stunned after a “humorous play” about “cost of living” was named word of the year, despite most people having never heard the phrase before.
The Macquarie Dictionary announced on Tuesday that the little-known phrase ‘cozzie livs’ has hit the top gong for 2023.
The phrase originally came from Britain and was chosen by the editorial committee because it had ‘resonated well with Australians’.
However, many Aussies claimed they had never heard of ‘cozzie livs’, despite ‘cost of living’ being one of the buzzwords of the year as millions of people struggle with rising grocery bills, inflation and interest rates.
Aussies were baffled by the phrase, with some saying it was the ‘worst winner’ in over a decade, while others thought it meant some ‘cozzies’ had come to life (stock iamge)
The Macquarie Dictionary has revealed the word of the year as ‘cozzie livs’, a twist on ‘cost of living’ (pictured), despite Australians saying they’ve never heard of the phrase
Some said the phrase was the “worst winner” since 2010, when the word Googlegoer took the crown.
Googleganger describes a person who shares a name with someone else.
Others thought the phrase cozzie livs described an anthropomorphic pair of swimmers due to the use of cozzie, long-standing slang for swimmers.
Aussies took to social media to express their dismay at the sentence.
“To choose ‘cozzie livs’ – a phrase no one has ever suggested they’ve ever heard – as Word of the Year takes it to the point of absurdity,” former ABC Radio host Adam Spencer wrote on X.
“I had to check the date on this and was surprised to see November 28th and not April 1st,” a second user wrote.
“Go interview 50 random people on the street and find out that NONE of them have heard of this,” wrote a third.
According to Google search trends, “cozzie livs” was not searched for once more than “cost of living” in 2023.
It follows a trend of Aussie slang breaking down serious topics into a barely recognizable and light-hearted term, like menty B for nervous breakdown.
‘Menty B because of cozzie livs. What Australians are doing to English is disgusting, I love it,” another user wrote.
The committee justified their decision, but said the phrase reflected the Australian tendency to make a dark situation humorous.
“What could be a more Australian approach to a major social and economic problem than to treat it with a bit of humor and informality?” wrote the committee.
According to Google Search Trends, cozzie livs has not once received more searches than “cost of living” in 2023, despite being one of the buzzwords of the year (stock image)
‘Cost of living [is] something that affects everyone… That was the committee’s choice because it had such an impact, and there’s an informal way to describe it.” Victoria Morgan, editor-in-chief of the Macquarie dictionary, said according to the Guardian.
‘In Australia, if something is very serious, we like to make it an informal term [makes it] easy to discuss things more lightly.’
Honorable mentions for word of the year were awarded to floods under blue skies, floods reaching low-lying areas despite no rain, and algospeak, the use of specific words online to avoid scrutiny by AI moderators.
Cozzie livs beat other expressions such as ‘gravy day’, from Paul Kelly’s song ‘How to Make Gravy’ which denotes December 21, and Bazball, an aggressive style of cricket that became popular during the 2023 Ashes series.
The audience award, which in the past has resulted in more humorous winners such as the bachelor’s handbag, was awarded to ‘generative AI’, artificial intelligence capable of creating images, text or audio.
The shortcomings of generative AI were simply skimpflation, where the quality or size of a product decreases while the price remains the same, and rizz, which is a shortening of charisma and means someone has the ability to charm or woo someone.