{"id":1731,"date":"2013-12-06T14:45:57","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T14:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?p=1731"},"modified":"2013-12-23T14:52:59","modified_gmt":"2013-12-23T14:52:59","slug":"congratulations-to-the-2013-word-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/congratulations-to-the-2013-word-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Selfie: The 2013 Word of the Year!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"selfie\"<\/a>The Oxford English Dictionary\u2019s word of the year is highly anticipated, creates much discussion, demonstrates the inventiveness and evolution of language, and the influences of politics, social media, and culture on our vocabulary. So without further ado, the award goes to (drum roll) \u2026 \u2018selfie\u2019!<\/p>\n

Yes, \u2018selfie\u2019 \u2013 a picture taken of yourself by yourself, usually to upload to social media platforms, and often includes an outstretched arm suggesting the person didn\u2019t have anyone else to take the photo of them at the time!<\/p>\n

The word has been around since 2002, and started to gain popularity in 2004 when the hashtag version, #selfie, appeared in Flickr, but thanks to Facebook (2004), Twitter (2006), and celebrities, the word, and the act, have become worldwide phenomena.<\/p>\n

There are websites dedicated to how to take the best \u2018selfie\u2019, Tumblr and Instagram have pages and pages dedicated to \u2018selfies\u2019 in various situations including funerals and concentration camp sites, and even worse, the controversial case where a woman took a self-portrait in front of the Brooklyn Bridge as a man was about to commit suicide.<\/p>\n

Some celebrities have almost made a career out of it, with Kim Kardashian the queen, Miley Cyrus the princess, and Justin Bieber the douche of \u2018selfies\u2019 \u2013 you\u2019d think they\u2019d have enough assistants to take their pics, but where\u2019s the egomania in that!<\/p>\n

But, we digress, to qualify for the award, a word doesn\u2019t need to have originated that year, but it needs to become a part of everyday conversation, and this is measured by software that monitors words on the web. This year, research showed that the frequency of the word \u2018selfie\u2019 had increased by 17,000% \u2013 that\u2019s definitely worth some recognition!<\/p>\n

Previous words to be honoured with this title include 2004\u2019s \u2018chav\u2019, 2008\u2019s \u2018credit crunch\u2019, and last year it was \u2018omnishambles\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"selfie2\"<\/a>\u2018Selfie\u2019 beat fellow nominees \u2018twerk\u2019, that dirty dancing routine made famous by Miley; \u2018binge-watch\u2019, the act of watching lots of TV; \u2018Schmeat\u2019, meaning a product made of synthetic meat; \u2018showrooming\u2019, to check out a product in-store then buy cheaper online; and \u2018bitcoin\u2019, a digital currency making news a lot lately.<\/p>\n

In contrast, American dictionary Merriam-Webster didn\u2019t even feature the word \u2018selfie\u2019 in their top ten \u2013 with the word \u2018science\u2019 taking the outright prize. Their word of the year is based on increases in search items, and their research showed \u2018science\u2019 increased by 176% on the previous year, which they put down to a number of reasons, in particular an increase in political discussions about climate change and education.<\/p>\n

So, \u2018selfie\u2019 takes the word of the year, is already in the OED\u2019s online dictionary, and looks set to be an official entry soon \u2013 are you a fan, or do you prefer your photos taken the traditional way, by someone else!?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oxford English Dictionary\u2019s word of the year is highly anticipated, creates much discussion, demonstrates the inventiveness and evolution of language, and the influences of politics, social media, and culture on our vocabulary. So without further ado, the award goes to (drum roll) \u2026 \u2018selfie\u2019! Yes, \u2018selfie\u2019 \u2013 a picture taken of yourself by yourself,(\u2026)<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t \t\t\t\tCONTINUE READING »<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[125,245,31,244],"class_list":["post-1731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humour-offbeat","tag-oed","tag-selfie","tag-words","tag-woty"],"yoast_head":"\nSelfie: The 2013 Word of the Year!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The evolution of language continues, as \u2018selfie\u2019 wins OED word of the year.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/congratulations-to-the-2013-word-of-the-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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