The Plain English Foundation has released a list of the worst words of 2020 and named the worst word of the last decade.

Director of the Plain English Foundation Dr Neil James, told 6PR’s Gary Adshead “alternative facts” has been named the worst word or phrase of the decade.

“It came from President Trump’s spokesperson who basically lied about the numbers at the inauguration ceremony,” he said.

The Trump administration claimed they were not lying about the numbers, they were simply giving “alternative facts”.

“Logically facts can not have an alternative that is also a fact,” Dr James said.

“They were caught-out telling a lie and they have come out with a word to try and paper it over.”

The winner of the worst word or phrase for 2020 was “vertical consumption” which was a term phrased by the South Australian government during the pandemic.

“That was when the SA government decided it was going to allow drinking in pubs again, you could drink but you had to stand up.”

Other words on the list include “zumping” which refers to “dumping your romantic partner over zoom”.

Rio Tinto senior executive Chris Salisbury won the worst “non-apology of the year” for his comments on the destruction of the Jukkan Gorge caves.

He said “We haven’t apologised for the event itself, per se, but apologised for the distress the event caused.”

Click play to hear the full interview. 

(Photo: iStock by Getty Images.)