CANBERRA, Australia — Milkshake duck — a term born in the twittersphere that describes an overnight social media sensation whose viral support rapidly dissolves with closer scrutiny — was chosen Monday as an Australian dictionary’s word of 2017. Australia’s response was that most had never heard of the term, which originated from the 2016 @pixelatedboat tweet: “The whole internet loves Milkshake Duck, a lovely duck that drinks milkshakes! (asterisk)5 seconds later(asterisk) We regret to inform you the duck is racist.”Macquarie’s committee said the milkshake duck phenomenon was familiar to Australians, even if the term was not. While coined in 2016, milkshake duck was not included in the dictionary until last year. The dictionary’s word of the year contest has long been open to constructions of two or more words.

Source: Washington Post January 15, 2018 12:59 UTC