London, Dec 30 (ANI): The grammatically incorrect catchphrase, ’simples’, of telly sensation Aleksandr the Meerkat has been voted as the new word of the year.

Compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary praised Aleksandr Orlov for getting his catchphrase, which appears in the comparethemarket.com ads, and which means “easy to do”, added to everyday conversation.

Susie Dent, 42, of Oxford University Press and star of Channel 4’s Countdown, said the catchphrase quickly caught the attention of the public.

“One word that seems to have captured the public’s imagination in 2009 is the word simples. It quickly became a catchphrase,” the Daily Star quoted her as saying.

It beat the likes of “defriend”, to remove someone from a list of friends on Facebook, and “Tweetup”, when people hook up after contacting each other on Twitter. (ANI)