Word of the Year

This week no less an august body than the Oxford Dictionaries released their official Word of the Year.  I’m not going to keep you in suspense; the word is selfie.  It won against a tough field including such hot contenders as twerk.  I had no idea what the word meant, but I felt a good guess would be a person who is self-centered – maybe a selfish yuppie?  (I bet yuppie would have been a contender in its day.)  Well, there may be a narcissistic aspect to it, but actually a selfie is a photo you take of yourself.

Barry Hall's wonderful cartoon for the Word of the Year

In case you aren’t taking this seriously, I can assure you the selection process is quite strenuous.  Words are suggested, crawlers collect evidence working their way through websites, blogs, Facebook pages, sifting for new words which are used on multiple occasions.  Eventually a short list is obtained and investigated by a committee (of humans).  This year, it seemed that a consensus was reached rapidly and selfie was the clear winner.  I think what swung it for them was Michelle Obama taking a selfie of herself and her dog, and the pope involved in one.  (I have to say the argument seems weak to me; there is no evidence that Michelle used the word selfie to describe what she was doing, and the pope wasn’t even holding the camera.  But still.)

Michelle with Bo.  Pretty good selfie!

 

Not that taking a selfie is a recent idea; here the grand duchess Anastasia takes one circa 1914 using a Kodak Brownie and a mirror.  It’s the word that’s recent.

An early, but not very good, selfie

To be chosen, the word doesn’t have to be new.  In fact it may require some time to develop traction.  With dictionatorial thoroughness, the Oxford team investigates the word’s etymology, popularity, and earliest usage.  (Dictionatorial, of course, is not a word.  But if enough of us use it over the next year or so it could be in with a chance.)  Given the Australian love of diminutives, it isn’t too surprising that the judges tracked selfie’s first use down to a blog from the antipodes.  I’m grateful that they didn’t provide the selfie itself:

"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 1 cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie."

The word comes into its own

With an introduction like that, you could tell the word was headed for the big time.  Still, there was competition.  Here’s the short list.  See how many you know or can guess the meaning:

             bedroom tax, noun, informal
·         binge-watch, verb
·         bitcoin, noun
·         olinguito, noun (There should be a prize for guessing this one.  How about a Kubu T-shirt for the best suggested meaning that ISN’T correct?)
·         schmeat, noun, informal
·         showrooming, noun (My personal favorite.  Don’t let your bookstore catch you at this!)
·         twerk, verb

This, of course, is NOT a selfie

By the way, last year’s winner was omnishambles.  That one I love!  (This post is a bit late because I was at the university about to post it when the power went off.  Their idea of a backup generator is a man with a flashlight.  A graduation ceremony was in progress.  It was an omnishambles!)

Selfie was added to the Oxford Dictionaries Online in August after the photo with the pope went viral, but is not yet in the Oxford English Dictionary.  Well, you have to draw the line somewhere.

Michael – Thursday.

You can find the meanings of the short listed words HERE.