Oxford University Press has just named “selfie” as the word of the year and the term beat out contenders like bitcoin, twerk and binge-watch. This is possibly due to the remarkable boost in usage and according to research, the use of the word “selfie” has increased 17,000 percent within one year.
While the term has undoubtedly become mainstream, its origins go much further back in time. The people at Oxford University Press discovered that the term was used in an Australian forum posting in 2002, whereby it was used to describe a photo the poster took of themselves after a drunken fall. It was then that the hashtag #selfie came about on Flickr two years later.
Despite being the word of the year, the word “selfie” is ironically not included in the Oxford Dictionary itself. However, it is part of the online Oxford Dictionaries website and is in the midst of being considered for future inclusion in their dictionary as well.
This isn’t the first time that technology’s influence on popular culture has developed into a word of the year selection as in 2005, the word “podcast” was selected. Additionally, in 2011, the honors went to none other than the word, “GIF”.
So, to commemorate the word of the year, here’s a group selfie from the Lipstiq writers! 😉
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