"In what was described as an unusually unanimous decision, “selfie” has been chosen as word of the year by the publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary, beating out “twerk” and a host of other Internet and social-media-related terms, such as “bitcoin,” that have exploded onto the verbal scene in recent years.
“It seems like everyone who is anyone has posted a selfie somewhere on the Internet,” Oxford Dictionaries said on its blog, without offering an accompanying selfie of the writer. “If it is good enough for the Obamas or the pope, then it is good enough for Word of the Year.”
Use of “selfie,” to mean a self-portrait typically snapped with a smartphone and shared over social networks, has risen 17,000% in frequency over the past 12 months, Oxford Dictionaries said. “Twerk” experienced a notable midyear surge, thanks to Miley Cyrus, but has not proved quite as popular or universal.
Although it was the “runaway winner” for the panel charged with selecting the 2013 word of the year, “selfie” was already on Oxford Dictionaries’ list of words to watch last year, like a song moving up the Billboard singles chart. It made it into Oxford Dictionaries’ online version three months ago, but hasn’t yet broken through to the magisterial Oxford English Dictionary, or OED.
Perhaps surprising to some, the term was first recorded in Australia..." to read more about this and believe me, it's well worth your time, click here and read the article from the LA Times. Here's a selfie of the Merrick Library...
No comments:
Post a Comment