You may have seen this week that the word 'brat' is officially the Collins Dictionary word of the year. Now, when I was growing up it meant a spoilt child acting up but now it’s something completely different. It’s defined as someone with a "confident, independent and hedonistic attitude" and it’s been inspired by the singer Charli XCX.
What started as the name of her number one album has arguably grown into a cultural movement with people adopting the so-called brat way of life. Kamala Harris is a self-proclaimed 'brat' Even the US presidential candidate Kamala Harris (who I pray to God wins the US election next week) has adopted the word 'brat' hoping to attract younger voters. We can moan about these new words, but language evolves, and each new generation brings in words and phrases of their own.
I was looking at words that have gone out of fashion and there are some corkers that ought to come back. Everywhere I go I hear people using the F word in everyday language, and I’m ashamed to say I use it more than I really should do. It’s become so commonplace it’s lost much of its shock value.
Perhaps we should revert to the old F word 'Fiddlesticks' instead. Now that would be fun to use instead of exclaiming “Oh F”, you could shout, “Oh Fiddlesticks”. Much nicer! Have you got the collywobbles? (Image: Archant) Other words I’d like to see come back include 'collywobbles', a feeling of anxiety or nervousness in the stomach.
I guess we now say, “I’ve go.
