Austerity and other words

It's more than half way through 2012, so here are my top ten words of the year so far:

1. Austerity: excuses everything from shopping at Aldi and staycations to slashing jobs in the public sector

2. Recession: the reason for Austerity above

3. Vintage: formerly known as second hand. See also austerity chic

4. Redundancy: losing one's job. Direct effect of Recession, above.

5. Transformation: doublespeak for public sector cuts, usually linked to Redundancy, above.

6. Olympic: lovely distraction from numbers 1-5, see also Danny Boyle, and fit young people

7. Medal (used as a verb): see Olympic

8. Pride:  Unusual feeling for most British citizens, but engendered by Olympic above.

9. Double dip: refers to Recession not a dubious hygenic habit at parties.

10. Ahimsa: the practice of non violence as an attitude and a way of life. A wise response to all of the above (think Mahatma Ghandi) - though admittedly not in as wide circulation as the other nine words in this list. Admirable in theory, difficult in practice. Go in peace, y'all.