Selfie edged out twerk as the Oxford Dictionaries international word of the year and this is where we are as a society right now.
Selfie meets the criteria of having “cultural significance” and reflecting “the ethos, mood or preoccupations of that particular year.”
The use of selfie in the English language increased an astounding 17,000 percent over the past year.
@KofC epic #selfie #PopeFrancis
Fabio M. Ragona
@FabioMRagona
@KofC epic #selfie #PopeFrancis
Oxford Dictionaries editorial director Judy Pearsall elaborated:
"Using the Oxford Dictionaries language research program, which collects around 150 million words of current English in use each month, we can see a phenomenal upward trend in the use of 'selfie' in 2013, and this helped to cement its selection as Word of the Year."
The term selfie grew as a Flickr hashtag in 2004, but exploded with the use of Twitter and Instagram recently.
My first #selfie w my mom @HillaryClinton back stage at #CGIAmerica. #ProudDaughter
Chelsea Clinton
@ChelseaClinton
My first #selfie w my mom @HillaryClinton back stage at #CGIAmerica. #ProudDaughter
The runner up was twerk, because of course it was.
