From the Telegraph:
“Big society” has pipped “double-dip” and “vuvuzela” to be named the Oxford Dictionaries word of the year for 2010.
The phrase was coined by Prime Minister David Cameron, who said in July: “The big society . . . is about liberation – the biggest, most dramatic redistribution of power from elites in Whitehall to the man and woman on the street.”
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Staff from Oxford University Press said that the contest is not limited to a single word and is open to two-word expressions.
Language expert Susie Dent, a spokeswoman for Oxford Dictionaries, said: ” ‘Big society’ was for us a clear winner because it embraces so much of the year’s political and economic mood.
“Taken to mean many things, it has begun to take on a life of its own – a sure sign of linguistic success.”
Yet here’s the Tory children’s minister, Tim Loughton, speaking candidly about the concept of the “big society” in a speech this month (via the Daily Mail):
The trouble is that most people don’t know what the “big society” really means, least of all the unfortunate ministers who have to articulate it.
What, actually, is the “big society”, let alone is it good or not? Exactly how big is it now, or is it going to be? Is it, in fact, Ann Widdecombe?