“Bovvered”, as in TV comedienne Catherine Tate’s catchphrase “Am I bovvered?”, has been declared word of the year in this year’s Language Report.
The annual report by Oxford University Press aims to give a snapshot of the English language. “In 2006 ‘bovvered’ has begun 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,” it said. The Language Report is published in hardback at pound;10.99.
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