‘Youthquake’ shakes things up as the word of the year

“YOUTHQUAKE”, “antifa” and “broflake” have yet to make it into daily vocabulary. But according to the Oxford Dictionaries, they are the words which will define 2017.

The dictionary provider has named “youthquake”, referring to the rallying of young people by Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party during the 2017 general election, as its Word of the Year. It said the word, which saw a 400 per cent increase in usage between 2016 and 2017, “highlights the increased awareness of young people’s capacity to influence, and even drive, political change”.

Many of the words chosen refer to political turbulence. “Antifa” means groups united by militant opposition to fascism, while a “broflake” is a man upset by progressive attitudes which conflict with his more conservative views.

“Kompromat”, a Russian word originally based on the English phrase “compromising material”, means material used to blackmail or manipulate someone for political purposes.

Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Dictionaries, said youthquake took the top spot because it was a “rare political word that sounds a hopeful note”. He added: “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 in.”

Corbyn’s attempts to woo younger voters saw 1.05million 18 to 24-yearolds register to vote between the calling of the general election and the cut-off date. Many backed Labour.