The latest political buzzword is omnishambles, used by Ed Miliband to describe the government. The word omnishambles was coined in the sitcom The Thick of It (video clip here, but NB there is a lot of swearing).
Shambles is an interesting word as it is regarded as singular, despite ending in -s. The modern meaning - a scene of devastation and disorder - dates back only to the 20th century. The word shamble dates back over a thousand years, however. In Anglo-Saxon England a shamble was a table or shop counter. A few centuries later it referred to a meat shop and rows of meat stalls in streets soon became known as shambles. Many towns, eg York, Guildford, have streets called The Shambles. This usually indicates that meat markets were once held there. The very earliest meaning of shamble (in around the year 825, according to the OED) was stool or footstool. It was spelt sc(e)amel in those days. Interestingly, the modern German word for stool is der Schemel.
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