Oh yes, it’s that time of the year again… Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is (drum roll) squeezed middle!

Yes, I know that’s two words. This is explained by Oxford University Press:

From a dictionary-maker’s point of view, a two-word expression is called a ‘compound’ and is treated as one word [a 'headword'] in the dictionary. This is not the first time that a two-word expression has been selected as our WOTY. In 2010, the UK Word of the Year was big society. (Source: Oxford University Press)

There has been much debate about this explanation. Nevertheless, squeezed middle is the Word of the Year, and it’s defined as “British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband’s term for those seen as bearing the brunt of government tax burdens while having the least with which to relieve it”. So squeezed in the middle of the rich (who can afford to relief from tax burdens) and the poor, who are eligible for benefits and other government assistance.

What’s your word of 2011?