Hard News: Word of the Year 2011 -- The Vote!
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I also didn’t think to associate “munted” specifically with #eqnz either.
Is it a regional thing? Like – perhaps the people of Christchurch claimed it in a notable way, but that special use case didn’t necessarily filter this far north…? I vaguely remember hearing Bob Parker’s statement, but it didn’t strike me as particularly… well, anything, other than accurate.
For my part, given the variety and relevance of the list to choose from, I decided to pick words that were informally appropriated into popular culture, rather than hashtags, people's names, or descriptions related to specific events (like Party Central or slutwalk). Just “munted” didn’t really resonate with me at all.
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Sacha, in reply to
that special use case didn’t necessarily filter this far north...?
it was in nearly every TV news story, let alone online discussions, etc
Just “munted” didn’t really resonate with me at all.
fair enough
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Heather Gaye, in reply to
it was in nearly every TV news story, let alone online discussions, etc
OK, so not regional then, but hand on heart, I didn’t encounter it. I don’t really watch TV, and it probably wouldn’t strike me as a particularly standout choice of wording in online discussion, if I read it.
Basically I just posted because I think it’s worth noting that a number of people are reporting the same confusion. I felt like a few people here were being unfairly attacked for basically existing in what’s evidently a bigger-than-negligible black spot.
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Think about how you have a perfectly good cup and your drop it and it ends up in a million pieces.
It's Munted.
Importantly I suspect it is the sudden impact of the drop that gives munted it's joyousness in this context. IMHO the correct context..
Wabi Sabi on the other hand - reading Ian's contribution - is a gradual degradation of the asthetics or the weathering of things. This implies a slow process.
Years ago a friend talked of needing a new watch. The one he had needed to be nuked. I liked that. I had the same thought when I heard munted for the first time where it was used to describe a friends car that had been pranged. Instant understanding.
Therefore I suggest Bob's use referring to the sewers is THE context. It worked. Then 1 minute later it didn't. Munted!
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I've always thought that munted differs from broken not so much in the suddenness as in the pointlessness of repair. It's much like a write-off but with more emotional intensity.
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I've only ever heard munted used in the meaning of really drunk. As in
Jim was totally munted last night.
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I've used munted (meaning broken) for years but it had not greater or lesser significance than a dozen or so other words I might have chosen. This year, when Bob Parker used in the sort of circumstances where a more formal term might have been expected, it gained a new level of meaning, expressing that things are too bad to be polite about.
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Sacha, in reply to
hand on heart, I didn’t encounter it
quite an achievement :)
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Sacha, in reply to
I've always thought that munted differs from broken not so much in the suddenness as in the pointlessness of repair.
+1
utterly rooted, if you will
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Joe Wylie, in reply to
This year, when Bob Parker used in the sort of circumstances where a more formal term might have been expected, it gained a new level of meaning, expressing that things are too bad to be polite about.
Like for example this piece of fawning Dear Leaderism. Whether or not it's at the behest of his minders, these days we tend to get just Bob, minus the fluffy side-dressing of Her Ditziness.
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James Butler, in reply to
quite an achievement :)
Ok, but we have a non-zero sample of people who have achieved it now, right? So is it time to stop with the eye-rolling yet?
FWIW, I've always associated "munted" more with the act that produced the breakage - "to munt" being something like the application of excessive force, with insufficient precision. The corollary being that I've always thought it quite possible to fix something by, eg., munting it back into place, if nothing else seems to work.
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Lilith __, in reply to
munting it back into place
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James Butler, in reply to
Ah, percussive maintenance.
At one point I had a computer, a VCR and a car which all required this in order to reach peak performance. But on balance, I wouldn't call that munting, because the effect was more... subtle. What can I say. It's a subtle word, with many shades of meaning.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
left my city outside the dairy...
It worked.
Then 1 minute later it didn’t.
Munted!nek munnited surely?
;- / -
Russell Brown, in reply to
Think about how you have a perfectly good cup and your drop it and it ends up in a million pieces.
It’s Munted.
I beg to differ. I would argue that for a thing to be munted it must maintain some semblance of its original form. It should be beyond repair but still a thing.
A smashed cup isn't munted, it's smashed into pieces.
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I agree that "munted" has achieved new currency in 2011 - world-wide, it's been that sort of year - but if you want real evidence of its longevity in general vocabulary, I remember very clearly a friend being bemused a few years back when he rang his bank because his eftpos card had stopped working, and the customer service rep with the strong Indian accent on the other end asked "Is the card munted?"
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DexterX, in reply to
A smashed cup isn't munted, it's smashed into pieces.
A smashed cup is shattered - something that is munted still retains its original form to a degree but is unable to be used or repaired.
An example being "some friends", in an attempt to get wheels to go to a festival traded a worn out ford prefect engine for a similar working engine out of a ford popular - the transplant didn't work - cross members in different places meaning the new sump didn't fit.
The offending sump was marked with a pencil and then an attempt was made to beat it into shape using mallets and hammers - it almost got there but split - the sump was munted retaining a semblance of what it was but had now been rendered unfit fit for any purpose except scrap metal. It was well and truly munted.
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Lilith __, in reply to
the customer service rep with the strong Indian accent on the other end asked “Is the card munted?”
It'd be fascinating to know what coaching these overseas call centre staff have in our dialect and idiom. I wonder what definition of munted they get taught? :-)
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Lucy Stewart, in reply to
It’d be fascinating to know what coaching these overseas call centre staff have in our dialect and idiom. I wonder what definition of munted they get taught? :-)
Yeah, friend's response was basically: all the words in English and they took the time to teach you *that* one? (Although it's equally possible the rep picked it off after having customers call in and use it in their complaint.)
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How about broken into X** pieces. So that it might still resemble a cup looking at the bits.
Millions might have been an exageration....
The broken cup is unusable. That was my point.
And it needs to be sudden.
** 2 to ....10 pieces? -
Sacha, in reply to
So is it time to stop with the eye-rolling yet?
I was serious in admiring Heather's not managing to have encountered the word. She knows I'd never roll my eyes at her. Well, not about that sort of thing..
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Does anyone else based their vote partly on how humorous / awkward the conversation between Russell and a slightly-confused pre-Xmas Geoff Robinson might be on Morning Report when the winner is announced?
Fuckeulogy would have the shock value, but trying to explain #hipstersforGoldsmith would be endlessly entertaining!
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Lilith __, in reply to
Does anyone else based their vote partly on how humorous / awkward the conversation between Russell and a slightly-confused pre-Xmas Geoff Robinson might be on Morning Report when the winner is announced?
This year's can't top twatcock in that regard :-)
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Islander, in reply to
Struth! I forgot to vote for twatcock!
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Lilith __, in reply to
Struth! I forgot to vote for twatcock!
S'alright. Twatcock is so 2010 ;-)
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