'Credit crunched' consumers 'defriend' and 'staycate'

Last year, new words introduced into Collins' official word list included credit crunch, sub-prime and downturn.

Released on the publication of the latest edition of the Gem dictionary, the new list reflects the economic gloom hanging over the world. The new words will be monitored over the coming months to see if they deserve an entry.

Words like "bad bank" have made it into the list, meaning a state-owned financial institution created to alleviate a financial crisis, or "recessionista " -- a person whose clothes, whether cheap, second-hand or subtly subdued, are considered appropriate to an economic downturn

The increasing dominance of social networking sites in our lives is reflected in the list, with a high proportion of the nominated terms born out of our changing online habits.

Leading the pack is the phrase "social notworking", referring to the practice of wasting time on social networks such as Facebook during working hours.

It's joined by the phrase "anti-social networking" which refers to a website that allows users to list people they don't like and don't want to contact.

On a similar theme, Collins is also considering "defriend" for inclusion, which refers to the act of removing someone from a list of friends on a social networking website.

The complete list is here:

- staycation n informal: holiday spent at home, especially due to straitened financial circumstances.

- brickor mortis n informal: a period of difficult times in the housing industry.