Quasi-Latin phrase loosely translated as "incredibly crappy year". The phrase was coined by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in 1992. It's been used in other contexts since then to describe a year that simply couldn't have gotten much worse without a falling satellite landing on your dog.

1992 was the 40th anniversary of the Queen's ascension to the throne, and was supposed to be a celebration for her and the Royal Family. Instead, the Queen's only daughter Princess Anne divorced her husband. Then Prince Andrew separated from Sarah Ferguson after the latter was photographed having her toes sucked by her American financial advisor. Then Prince Charles and Princess Diana separated after a public affair of soap-operatic proportions. And then, just to top it all off, Windsor Palace caught fire and the British public became outraged when they were expected to pay for it. No doubt the crowning indignity was the fact that, in the wake of this last financial disaster, the Queen was pressured into paying income taxes for the first time in the history of the monarchy.

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