Australia erupts as the surprise 'word of the year' is unveiled: 'Nobody has said this - ever'

Aussies have been left baffled after a 'humorous play' on 'cost of living' was awarded word of the year despite most people having never heard the phrase before.

The Macquarie Dictionary announced on Tuesday the little-known phrase, 'cozzie livs', took out the top gong for 2023.

The phrase originated in the UK and was selected by the editorial committee because it had 'resonated soundly with Australians'.

However, many Aussies claimed they had never heard of 'cozzie livs' before, despite 'cost of living' being one of the year's buzzwords as millions struggle with rising grocery bills, inflation and interest rates.

Some said the phrase was the 'worst winner' since 2010 when the word, Googleganger, took out 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 because of the use of cozzie, longstanding slang for bathers.

Aussies took to social media to voice their displeasure with the phrase.

'To choose 'cozzie livs' - a phrase no one has ever suggested they've ever heard - as Word of the Year is stretching this 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 28 November and not April 1,' a second user wrote.

'Go and interview 50 random people on the street, and find out that NONE of them have heard of this,' a third wrote.

According to Google search trends, not once was 'cozzie livs' searched more than 'cost of living' throughout 2023.

It follows a trend of Aussie slang breaking down serious topics into a barely recognisable and light-hearted term, such as menty B for mental breakdown. 

'Menty B due to cozzie livs. What Australians do to English is disgusting, I love it,' another user wrote.

While justifying their decision, the committee said the phrase reflected the Aussie tendency to turn 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 humour and informality?' the committee wrote. 

'Cost of living [is] something that is impacting everybody... That was the committee's choice, because it had such an impact, and there is a colloquial way of describing it.' Victoria Morgan, The Macquarie dictionary managing editor, said according to the Guardian.

'In Australia, when something is very serious, we do love to make a colloquial term that [makes it] easy to discuss things in a more light-hearted manner.' 

Honourable mentions for the word of the year were handed to blue-sky flood, flood waters reaching low-lying lands despite there being no rain, and algospeak, the use of specific words online to avoid surveillance from AI moderators.

Cozzie livs beat out other phrases such as 'gravy day', from Paul Kelly's song 'How to Make Gravy' and denoting December 21, and Bazball, an aggressive style of cricket popularised during the 2023 Ashes series. 

The people's choice award, which in the past has resulted in more humorous winners such as bachelor's handbag, was given to 'generative AI', artificial intelligence able to create images, text or audio.

Just falling short to generative AI was skimpflation, the quality or size of a product decreasing while the price stays the same, and rizz, a shortening of charisma and meaning someone has an ability to charm or woo a person.