Omnishambles

 Callum: Hello, welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Callum and with me today is Neil. Hello Neil. 

Neil: Hi there Callum. 

Callum: In today’s programme we’re going to be talking about the word ‘omnishambles’.  Every year a committee at the Oxford³ English Dictionary comes up with a list of new words that have made a big impact on the English language.  

Neil: Now they aren’t necessarily words that will make their way into dictionaries any time soon but they are words that have been influenced by popular culture, sport, politics and other current affairs. 

Callum: This year, at the top of their list, was the word omnishambles. Before we learn more about it, here’s a question for you, Neil, about dictionaries. 

From the following, who published the earliest English alphabetical⁴ dictionary? Was it Robert Cawdrey, Samuel Johnson or Noah Webster? 

Neil: Well I think this is a trick question. I think you want me to say Samuel Johnson. I don’t think it’s Webster because he was American. I’m going to go for Robert Cawdrey. 

Callum: OK, we’ll find out if you’re right at the end of the programme. 

 Fiona McPherson is one of the judges who decides on the Word of the Year and she describes why new words make it on to the list. What are her main criteria⁵? 

Fiona McPherson First and foremost it’s about the evidence; so as long as people are using it and we can find independent examples. By independent I mean not just used by one person; you’ll see it in various newspapers, perhaps novels, that kind of thing. But it’s also the projected longevity⁶, really. Some words are flash in the pan, but you can normally gauge⁷ by using your own judgement whether or not something is going to have a life.  

Callum: Neil, what’s most important? 

Neil: She says that ‘first and foremost’ it’s if the word is being used by more than one person; if it’s being used in a variety of media. 

Callum: Is that the only consideration? 

Neil: No, she says it’s also about the ‘projected longevity’ of the word, which is an estimation of how long the word will be used for. Some words, she says, are a ‘flash in the pan’ which means they are popular for a very short time but then disappear. 

Callum: In an example of life imitating art, the word omnishambles first appeared in a BBC television political comedy in 2009. Can you tell us a bit about what it means?  

Neil: Sure. The prefix⁸ ‘omni’, which means everywhere or everything, has been added to the noun ‘shambles¹’. Shambles is a noun for something that is very poorly organised and planned. A complete mess! An omnishambles is this new word which emphasises just how really bad something has been messed up. Something that is an omnishambles is a complete and total disaster. It usually refers to a series of mistakes and blunders by politicians.  

Callum: And it’s a word that’s become particularly popular for those who want to criticise⁹ the government. Let’s listen to an example. This is Ed Milliband, an opponent of the British prime minister, speaking in parliament. 

Ed Milliband (Leader of the Opposition) Over the last month, we’ve seen the charity tax shambles, the churches tax shambles, the 

caravan¹⁰ tax shambles and the pasty tax shambles. So, Mr Speaker, we’re all keen to hear the prime minister’s view as to why he thinks, four weeks on from the budget, even people within Downing Street are calling it an omnishambles budget. 

Callum: Ed Milliband describing lots of different ‘shambles’, and then describing them all as omnishables. 

Neil: Yes, an omnishambles is a collection of shambles! 

Callum: So why has the word caught on? Here’s writer Tony Roche, who coined the expression in the political satire¹¹ The Thick of It. 

Tony Roche 

It seems to have lent itself to being mutated. I think it might have been Vanity Fair used the word ‘Romneyshambles’ to describe various gaffes¹² that Mitt² Romney was making and it’s been used in a few other contexts.  

Callum: What reason does he give for the popularity of the word? 

Neil: He says that it can easily be adapted and changed for different circumstances. He mentions the fact that the magazine Vanity Fair used a variation of it - Romneyshambles - to refer to US presidential candidate Mitt Romney making gaffes. 

Callum: Gaffes? 

Neil: Yes, gaffes, a word for embarrassing mistakes. 

Callum: Let’s listen to Tony Roche again. 

Tony Roche 

It seems to have lent itself to being mutated. I think it might have been Vanity Fair used the word ‘Romneyshambles’ to describe various gaffes that Mitt Romney was making and it’s been used in a few other contexts. 

Callum: Will this word have legs? Will it live longer than the current political period? Here’s Fiona McPherson again; what does she think? 

Fiona McPherson What it has in its favour is it’s already had some derivatives¹³ coming from it like Romneyshambles, we’ve heard when talking about Mitt Romney’s gaffes about how he thought London wasn’t ready to, to host a good Olympics. Things like that are good indicators¹⁴ that maybe this word will have staying power, but really time is the only thing that will, will  tell. 

Callum: What does she think Neil? 

Neil: She makes a similar point to Tony Roche that the word already has derivatives, or different variations. She mentions the same example of Romneyshambles. It’s this ability to adapt and evolve which she thinks might give it staying power - might give it the ability to become a more permanent feature in the English language. But ultimately, time will tell: we’ll just have to wait and see. 

Callum: That’s the beauty of language, always evolving. Now before we run out of time and this programme becomes an omnishambles, let’s get the answer to this week’s question.  

Who published the earliest English alphabetical dictionary. Neil, you said? 

Neil: Robert Cawdrey. 

Callum: And Robert Cawdrey was the correct answer and that was in 1604.  

 Well that’s all from this edition of 6 Minute English. Until next time, thank you Neil and goodbye. 

Neil:  Goodbye! 

1 shambles   

n.混乱之处；废墟

参考例句：

• My room is a shambles.我房间里乱七八糟。
• The fighting reduced the city to a shambles.这场战斗使这座城市成了一片废墟。

2 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

3 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

4 alphabetical   

adj.字母（表）的，依字母顺序的

参考例句：

• Please arrange these books in alphabetical order.请把这些书按字母顺序整理一下。
• There is no need to maintain a strict alphabetical sequence.不必保持严格的字顺。

5 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

6 longevity   

n.长命；长寿

参考例句：

• Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
• Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。

7 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

8 prefix   

n.前缀；vt.加…作为前缀；置于前面

参考例句：

• We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
• In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。

9 criticise   

v.批评，评论；非难

参考例句：

• Right and left have much cause to criticise government.左翼和右翼有很多理由批评政府。
• It is not your place to criticise or suggest improvements!提出批评或给予改进建议并不是你的责任！

10 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

11 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。

12 gaffes   

n.失礼，出丑( gaffe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The presidential candidate made three mistakes, or gaffes, during his speech. 校长候选人在演讲中出了三次错，或失态。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• When the microphones were on, gaffes gushed from his lips. 而当电话响起，他却口无遮拦，屡屡失言。 来自互联网

13 derivatives   

n.衍生性金融商品；派生物，引出物( derivative的名词复数 )；导数

参考例句：

• Many English words are derivatives of Latin words. 许多英语词来自拉丁语。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These compounds are nitrosohydroxylamine derivatives. 这类合成物是亚硝基羟胺衍生物。 来自辞典例句

14 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。