December 2022

According to the “Society for Austrian German” (GSÖD) of the University of Graz, the election this year was characterized less by original expressions and more by topics that move Austrians, which carried out the vote in cooperation with the Austria Press Agency (APA) conducts.

The word “inflation” received 3,904 votes. With almost 1,000 fewer votes, “Climate Bonus” took second place in the Word of the Year election. The word “corruption” came third with 1,359 votes.

“Energy crisis” is the word of the year

The nonsense of the year 2022 also reflects the worries and fears of Austrians. “Energy Crisis” was voted first with 2,596 of 7,835 votes cast. “Heizschwammerl” ended up in second place with 1,332 votes. The word is an Austriazism and, according to the jury, corresponds to the German “heating mushroom”. It becomes a nonsense because of its belittling character, which disguises the waste of energy caused by the heating pads. The “leg scraping tool” was voted third with 1,058 votes.

Youth vote for “smash”

“smash” was chosen as the youth word of the year 2022. They accounted for 2,999 of the 10,421 delivered. This term is mainly used as a verb (“smash”) and means something like “to start something with someone”, “to pick someone up” or even “to have sex with someone”. At the same time, it seems to have undergone a change in meaning and, as an adjective, to take the place of reinforcing words such as “geil”, “super”, “class”.

Federal President delivers saying of the year

Federal President Alexander van der Bellen once once more contributed to the saying of the year. With 5,804 out of 9,538 votes, “That can’t all be true!” was voted first. That was part of his speech regarding corruption when filling posts following Thomas Schmid’s statements to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Economic and Corruption became known.

The saying “There is enough for everyone, but not for everyone’s greed” by Caritas President Michael Landau came second. The statement by Nobel Prize winner Anton Zeilinger “You have to trust your spinning mills a bit” was voted third.

Chancellor ensures disagreement of the year

Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) caused the contradiction in 2022 with 3,807 out of 9,073 votes. “If we continue like this, there are only two decisions for you followingwards: alcohol or psychotropic drugs!” he said in July in his speech at the Tyrolean state party conference and has also received criticism from his own ranks.

The sentence cascade “We have to look at that” by Minister of Education Martin Polaschek (ÖVP), which he used regarding a dozen times in response to questions from ZIB2 moderator Armin Wolf, came in second. The statement “empiricism, science is one thing, the facts are another” from the mouth of Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) took third place among the contradictions.

List of words that stand out positively or negatively

During the election, the GSÖD compiles a list of candidates under the leadership of Rudolf Muhr. These are words that Austrians have noticed positively or negatively since the end of last year and that might be sent to the jury. The selection might then be voted on online within a certain period of time – more on that Word of the year 2022: voting in the final.