Brian Cowen says the unpalatable budget will be a defining moment in our history but a new book by a dictionary expert is a wonderfully defining sign of our times.

Susie Dent has collected the phrases that sum up 2008 and capture the zeitgeist, to coin a phrase.

And so a "ninja loan" is a bank loan offered to someone who cannot pay it back, from the acronym "No Income, No Job, No Assets" and "jingle mail" is the return of your house keys to the bank because you can't afford the mortgage.

"Nomophobic" is fear of being out of mobile phone contact, while "undo-plasty" is reversing the effects of botched plastic surgery and "boy-tox" is men using botox to iron out their wrinkles.

It's important in this credit crunch not to be a "doomer" (pessimist). There are still plenty of "funts" (financially untouchables) around – and they're still called bankers.