Oxford Australia Blog

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The lighter side of the Oxford Children’s Word of the Year

The word ‘equality’ might have been the Oxford Word of the Year, but not all entries tackled the big issues of our time.

Many of the entries from primary school students across Australia were funny and imaginative, bringing a smile to our faces as we read through the stories to put together our shortlist of words for the judges.

‘Slime’ featured in more than one entry (“it was brown and ugly. It felt watery and sticky.”), while alongside ‘freedom’, ‘refugee’, ‘loyalty’ and ‘bullying’, there were stories about ‘sausages’, a ‘rooster’ and a talking ant.

Unsurprisingly, fidget spinners were mentioned, but more unexpected was the fact that they were the theme of just one story.

In the spirit of Roald Dahl, made-up words included ‘mungry’, defined as ‘more than hungry’ and ‘hoodash’, which was a collection of letters two boys found in their adventures around Australia.

Here are excerpts from some of the entries that tickled our fancy, including a story about an ant who talked too much:

CWOTY ant

Food was also a hot topic, from macaroni to chicken nuggets:

CWOTY chicken

We loved reading the quirky rhyme submitted by one of the students:

CWOTY zoo

Thank you to all of the schools who entered the Oxford Children’s Word of the Year competition. We look forward to hearing from you in 2018!

Find out more about the winners of the Oxford University Press Children’s Word of the Year primary school writing competition.

 

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