At the end of this year (as every year) the dictionaries of the world will announce their choice for ‘word of the year.’ But already (in April!) Geoff O’Brien (of Eltham, Victoria) thinks he knows what it should be. In a letter to the Australian he nominated for Word of the Year 2025 his new word ‘tarrified’. Well, Geoff, it’s not going to happen. Mainly because invented words (however clever) never get the Word of the Year nod. Geoff’s highly creative ‘tarrified’ is a spin on ‘terrified’ – to be very afraid, to be filled with terror (Oxford). That goes back to the 1500s, and it is part of the living language in 2025 that captures perfectly the global reaction to President Trump’s tariff policy.

When Trump announced his ‘Liberation Day’ of reciprocal tariffs to the nations of the world, most countries howled in protest (including Australia) that an increased tariff on them was a gross injustice. As always the media jumped far too soon with jeremiads wailing about the end of civilisation as we know it. Within hours of the tariffs being announced the hysterical media declared a global trade war. They still haven’t learned the lesson of how Trump bargains when he negotiates a deal. In fact, it’s not unusual for negotiators to set out ‘ambit claims’ in order to provoke responses – and then deal back and forth to a middle ground. But journalists who have never read The Art of the Deal and never done a deal in their lives prefer mindless, hysterical panic. As for Geoff’s new word, ‘tarrified’ – it might just be taken up and become part of the English language. We shall see. Mind you, if he had chosen the similar sounding ‘tariffed’ he might be on a winner – since the word ‘tariff’ can be used as a verb, and has been since 1756. And if Trump has done anything to the world he has definitely ‘tariffed’ it!