Why ‘milkshake duck’ is the word of the year for an Australian dictionary

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.

Macquarie Dictionary, the definitive authority on Australian English, defines a milkshake duck as: a person who is initially viewed positively by the media but is then discovered to have something questionable about them which causes a sharp decline in their popularity.

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! *5 seconds later* 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.

“Milkshake duck stood out as being a much needed term to describe something we are seeing more and more of, not just on the internet but now across all types of media,” the committee said.