The worst phrase of the decade revealed

The phrase was coined by White House staffer Kellyanne Conway to defend press secretary Sean Spicer's blatant lies about the attendance numbers at Donald Trump's presidential inauguration in 2017.

Plain English executive director Neil James said the much lampooned phrase stood out in a post-truth period when global politics took an Orwellian turn.

"This outrageous take on dishonesty was our clear winner in a decade that saw democracy decline," Dr James said in a statement.

In other news:

"Politicians are known for obfuscation, but 'alternative facts' was particularly worrying. It suggests our elected leaders can be right even when they are factually wrong. That sets a dangerous precedent for democracy."

Since 2010, the Plain English Foundation has curated an annual list of the worst words and phrases to highlight the importance of clear language. Previous winners over the decade include corporations indulging in doublespeak.

Orica referred to chemical leaks as 'fugitive emissions' while Volkswagen hid behind 'possible emissions non-compliance' when it cheated on environmental tests.

The notable corporate trend of the decade was the way corporations spoke about job cuts when they had to fire staff. In 2018, the ABC won the annual gong for using 'external career development opportunities' to discuss firing staff.

The decade also spawned an impressive collection of Frankenwords, as brands vied to attract consumer attention. KFC's Goodification was an early winner, and honourable mentions went to Sportsbet for Merry Puntmas and Tourism Australia for its recent philausophy.

"At best, these non-words are ugly and hard to make sense of," Dr James said.

"At worst, they imply junk food is healthy and gambling is as special as a religious and family holiday."

Celebrity speak and popular culture didn't disappoint either. 'Conscious uncoupling' was the 2014 winner when Gwyneth Paltrow used the phrase to describe her separation from husband Chris Martin.

The foundation also released its 2020 list of worst words and phrases, with COVID-19 generating many new words.

Here are the top choices from 2020:

When South Australia announced it would allow people to drink in bars while standing up, the SA government described it as "vertical consumption".

This oxymoron of the year emerged from the retail sector and refers to spending on "discretionary essentials" for home renovations and office supplies.

Dumping a romantic partner on Zoom.

This word was invented by someone to describe how the COVID-19 recession is disproportionately impacting women.

A tunnel construction project described how its noise abatement was "designed to minimise noise and vibration impacts on sensitive receivers" - that is, homes, schools and hospitals.

A real estate sector word that describes suburbs that attract 'hip' residents.

The real estate sector also generated the mixed metaphor of the year: "A magnetic building both lyrical and euphonic, driven by pizzazz and charm".

Need to stop a wild animal from harassing people? Make sure it is "withdrawn as a matter of priority". That means kill it.

Former federal minister Bridget McKenzie defended her decision to allocate sports grant money to projects in marginal seats as "reverse pork-barrelling". She also reversed her cabinet spot.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany explained President Trump was trying to contact the family of a police shooting victim by saying: "We are efforting outreach".

Former Australian PM Tony Abbott railed against so-called COVID-19 "health dictatorships" when Victoria imposed restrictions.

A Rio Tinto executive was recorded commenting on the destruction of two 46,000-year-old landmarks in the Juukan Gorge, saying: "We haven't apologised for the event itself, per se, but apologised for the distress the event caused."

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