And books? So, old hat. Apparently they are now known as "cultural externalities".

Well, the worm has turned and all those cringe-inducing utterances have been called out for what they are: weasel words, doublespeak, spin, infuriating euphemisms.

The Sydney-based Plain English Foundation on Wednesday published its list of the worst words or phrases of the year.

Coming out on top as the worst word or phrase of 2016 was the curious "Brangelexit".

Others included "disestablished" rather than job cuts, "revenue measures" rather than tax and "risk of tree failure" which was code for "watch out for falling branches".

"Locker room talk" got the nod for "non-apology of the year".

Plain English Foundation executive director Dr Neil James said "Brangelexit" combined the divorce of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie ("Brangelina") with the "Brexit" vote, in which the United Kingdom elected to withdraw from the European Union.

The "butt ugly frankenword" might not have been rolling off the tongue of those barometers of community sentiment - say taxi drivers and hairdressers - but it did find traction on social media.

Brangelexit was tipped into first place by saying something about the mood of 2016, Dr James said.

"It captures the shallowness of our current culture when a celebrity separation is elevated to the status of a world event of genuine political importance," he said.

Dr James said a list of worst words was important because there was a risk of blandly accepting the spin and doublespeak rather than demanding "clear public language".

"For a nation that prides itself on calling a spade a spade, it seems that Australia has started to call a spade an articulated portable digging implement," Dr James said.

Worst Words 2016

Winner

Brangelexit

When super-couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie decided to split, it spawned one of the ugliest frankenwords of all time, combining "Brangelina" with "Brexit".

Apart from being inherently ugly, elevating a celebrity divorce to the level of a major world event was a poor reflection on 2016.

Corporate spin

Battery cell issue

Samsung kicked off a year of poor communications from mobile phone manufacturers. When its phones started catching fire, it said they had a "battery cell issue":

"Samsung is committed to producing the highest quality products and we take every incident report from our valued customers very seriously. In response to recently reported cases of the new Galaxy Note7, we conducted a thorough investigation and found a battery cell issue"

Samsung just edged out Apple, which had to explain why its phones were suddenly turning off. Apparently it was all due to "controlled ambient air".

"We found that a small number of iPhone 6s devices … contained a battery component that was exposed to controlled ambient air longer than it should have been before being assembled into battery packs. As a result, these batteries degrade faster than a normal battery and cause unexpected shutdowns to occur."

It didn't really explain what "controlled ambient air" actually is.

Disestablished

Every year, organisations prove themselves incapable of using two clear and simple words: "job cuts".

In 2016, a New Zealand university explained:

"It is proposed that 16.28 full-time equivalent staff are disestablished."

Meanwhile in the UK, Uber lost a case where it claimed it did not actually employ anyone, so it just "deactivated" drivers it no longer wanted. Judges scolded the company for "twisted language" and ruled that Uber drivers should receive the national living wage.

Temporary volume dislocation

When baby formula business Bellamy's Australia hit some problems with Chinese regulators, its sales and share prices plummeted.

The company spin noted it was simply experiencing a "temporary volume dislocation".

Euphemism

Wastage

How do you talk about the mass killing of greyhounds that are not able to race? You turn to a bland euphemism: "wastage". And they wondered why the NSW government wanted to ban the sport.

Alt-right

As we find ourselves in a "post-truth" world, a new political force is making its way to the fore: the "alt-right" or "alternative right".

As many are realising, this is actually a euphemism for what is better labelled the "far right", "extreme right" or "white nationalism".

Revenue measures

In April, Treasurer Scott Morrison tied himself in linguistic knots trying to avoid the word "tax":

"It's not to say there won't be revenue measures in the budget, of course there'll be revenue measures in the budget. But what we're saying, is where will apply those revenue measures, is to reducing the tax burden in other parts of the economy wherever possible to drive down the deficit."

Integrated resorts

Then there is this classic euphemism from the gambling industry. Apparently, they don't build casinos any more. They build "integrated resorts".

Buzzwords and business jargon

Cultural externalities

The Productivity Commission report on the publishing industry talked a lot about "cultural externalities". We used to call these "books".

Risk of tree failure

A big storm in Sydney prompted a local council to post signs saying: "For your safety we advise you not to visit the park during or just after heavy rain and strong winds because of the risk of tree failure". This turned out to mean we need to watch out for falling branches.

Frankenwords

Bigly

Although the Trump camp denied he ever said this, the first presidential debate coined an ugly new adverb: I'm going to cut taxes "bigly", and you're going to raise taxes bigly.

Whether he actually said "big league" or "bigly", this frankenword deserves to be attacked ruthlessly by a pitchfork-wielding mob.

Woke

While a new word for being socially and politically aware might be useful, surely we can come up with something that actually uses English grammar correctly. "Stay woke, dude" does not.

Mixed metaphor of the year

Hurtling through quicksand

Experts often use metaphor to explain complex concepts. But they don't always think it through.

Health care law expert Larry Levitt warned that repealing the US's Affordable Care Act would mean that:

"As the car is hurtling towards the cliff, it's driving on quicksand."

A close runner up was this gem in the Adelaide Advertiser:

"The writing was on the wall that a changing of the guards was on the cards after Thompson won last month."

Non-apology of the year

Locker room talk

How can you apologise without apologising? You say sorry for lewd and misogynistic comments but then pass them off as "locker room talk".

At least, that's what you do when you're the next president of the United States.