Shovel-ready??

So the Macquarie Dictionary's announced its word of the year for 2009: shovel-ready. The word refers to a building or infrastructure project capable of being initiated immediately, as soon as funding is assured.

I have to take issue with this for a number of reasons:

1. How is shovel-ready a "word"? It's a messed up cliche masquerading as an adjective.

2. Surely instead of adding to the dross that's filling our lives, the dictionary should be attempting to reharness the simple, beautiful language of the recent past. You know, words that don't have hyphens and aren't subject to manipulation in Question Time?

3. Who apart from annoying media types would use this "word" anyway?

oh... hang on.