Bovvered: The Word Of The Year 2006?

The Language Report is the indispensable annual update on the English language written by Susie Dent, the resident word expert on Channel 4 TV's Countdown.

In the following extract, Susie Dent reveals her choice for the word of 2006.

In November 2005, at the 77th Royal Variety Performance in Cardiff, the comedienne Catherine Tate, in the guise of the mouthy teenage character Lauren, asked the Queen: 'Is one bovvered?'

The catchphrase needed no explanation: 'Am I bovvered?' (and the follow-up 'Does my face look bovvered?') had already come to be seen as the perfect expression of a generation ofteenagers and their speaking style.

It was in 2006, however, that bovvered began to take over from 'whatever' as the signature phrase of teens, and to challenge the Little Britain catchphrase 'yeah-but-no-but' as the embodiment of couldn't-care-less adolescence.

'Bovver', originally an imitation ofthe Cockney pronunciation of 'bother', took on in the late 1960s the figurative sense of trouble or disturbances, especially by skinhead gangs known as 'bovverboys' and 'bovver birds' wearing 'bovver boots', heavy boots with toecaps and laces. Catherine Tate's 'Am I bovvered?', if striking the same note of rebellion, is more light-hearted.

As a catchphrase, often shortened to 'bovvered' with an optional question mark, it has successfully established itself in daily language. Like 'luvvlyjubbly', the hallmark of DelBoy's banter in the TV sitcom Only Fools and Horses, it may yet show sufficient staying power to win, in its new guise, recognition in a dictionary.

See also: A Word A Year

Printer friendly version