Managing Editor
“Twerk”, “Binge-watch”, “girl crush” – these are just a few of the new additions to the Online Oxford Dictionary this year, but none of them made it to the all important Word of the Year. No that honour is held by “Selfie”.
Yes earlier this week, Oxford Dictionaries named “Selfie” as the 2013 Word of the Year. The word that refers to “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website”, was not coined in 2013. However, over the past 12 months its use has reportedly increased by 17,000%.
Oxford Dictionary editorial director, Judy Pearsall spoke about the rise in the popularity of the word, “Social media sites helped to popularize the term, with the hashtag #selfie appearing on the photo-sharing website Flickr as early as 2004, but usage wasn’t widespread until around 2012. That was the year when selfie was being used commonly in mainstream media sources.”
Unsurprising, due to our love of shortening words and adding “-ie/-y” to them (for example, barbie, cossie, brekkie, footy), the earliest usage of the phrase appears to have been from a Australian internet forum back in 2002:
2002 ABC Online (forum posting) 13 Sept.
“Um, drunk at a mates 21st, I tripped ofer [sic] and landed lip first (with front teeth coming a very close second) on a set of steps. I had a hole about 1cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie.”
Following its addition to the online Oxford Dictionary and its latest accolade, “Selfie” is currently under consideration for inclusion in the print edition of the Oxford Dictionary. So how many of you are going to upload a #selfie now in celebration? Share your photos with us below.
http://www.Twitter.com/PopWrapped
https://pop-wrapped.tumblr.com
http://www.SoundCloud.com/PopWrapped
http://www.Facebook.com/PopWrapped
http://www.Instagram.com/PopWrapped
http://www.Pinterest.com/PopWrapped
http://www.YouTube.com/PopWrapped
https://pop-wrapped.wordpress.com
http://www.PopWrapped.com
Author
