‘Single-use’ edges out ‘VAR,’ ‘floss,’ ‘gammon,’ and ‘plogging’ as this dictionary’s word of the year
Microplastics didn’t make the list?
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I was looking at the Collins Dictionary website, and this is the best explanation I was able to find:
It’s the most wonderful time of the year once again, Collins Dictionary have announced the 2018 Word of the Year shortlist. Our lexicographers monitor the 4.5 billion-word Collins Corpus and create the annual list of new and notable words that reflect an ever-evolving culture and the preoccupations of those who use it.
This year, environmental issues rise to the top with words such as ‘single-use’ and ‘plogging’, accompanied by political movements, dance trends and technology. We explore the origins of five of the shortlist and examine how they’ve risen to prominence in news, politics, business and society over the course of the last year.
[emphasis mine]
(I was hoping for something a little more solid, in terms of what rules they go by, but it seems that choosing the word may be more of an art than a science. I wonder who gets the last word on choosing the word 
)
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Well, it was, but… darn, we need a new word for something that can be used only once, the old one got used.
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There is some push-back on “Gammon” - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/07/gammon-playground-insult-words-of-2018
But it’s gloriously descriptive.
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For a moment, I thought that was Clarence Bodeker in position number eight.
Bitches Leave.
So, yes, well spotted.
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