Holocaust caused an unholy row in Parliament this month. Prime Minister Tony Abbott summoned the noun to describe Labor's lollygagging over submarine contracts: "There was a holocaust of jobs in defence industries under member opposite."

To be fair to the PM, he promptly withdrew his remark, apologising for any offence. Going by the media meltdown, that offence was palpable. Forums erupted, intensified no doubt by the recent anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation, some 70 years ago.

Sinker. Credit:Simon Letch

While the rhetoric was gauche, the analogy regrettable, the same gaffe has lent us a chance to delve deeper into the word, to understand how it's come to be such a sacrament.

Say the word in isolation, and almost every listener will link holocaust to the murder of six million Jews during World War II. Even without a capital H, that brutality has become the word's foremost association.