From OMG to LOL, YOLO to swag, words that became popular thanks to their unabashed use and abuse in our daily lives. Now, these words are officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary every year.
And though 'selfie' was the word of the year, there are 8 other words that created quite a buzz in 2013. We round off each of them with a proper description below.
1) Twerk: which essentially describes a provocativehip-thrusting dance, has been around for years. But, ever since teen pop singer Miley Cyrus twerked at the MTV Video Music Awards this August, in a controversial performance, the word became the most searched darling of the pop culture.
2) Selfie: Oxford Word of the Year - selfie is a self-portrait typically snapped using a smartphone and shared on a social networking site. Acting as a fuel to our already narcissistic lives, selfies not only inspiredcountless celebrities and news stories but modern day museum exhibits as well.
3) Emoji: comes from the Japanese words for picture (e) and character (moji), dates as far back as 1990's but was only recently included in the online dictionary of Oxford. Simple smileys using the symbols and parenthesis available in our phones were replaced by bizarre, silly and complicated emoticons recently. They increasingly dominate our text conversations and are known as emojis.
4) Binge-watch: When digital streaming serviceNetflix released entire seasons of new shows all at once, our favourite pastime hit a milestone. The viewers indulged themselves in binge-watch - meaning they saw their favourite TV series in a marathon- episode after episode rather than waiting the week for a next instalment.
5) Bitcoin: Bitcoin brokers and marketplaces made headlines throughout the year. Known as the digital currency in which transactions can be performed without the need for a central bank, Bitcoin's volatility andregulation was questioned especially between March and May earlier in the year, which may be due to the market crash around that time.
6) Schmeat: Oxford states that Schmeat is a form of meat produced synthetically from biological tissue. In August this year, the world's first hamburger made with schmeat was served up by Dutch scientists. And, though the concept is still in its infancy, there is a possibility that it will catch on in the near future. So, next time you visit your nearby supermarket, keep an eye for schmeat!
7) Meme: Essentially explained as a virally-transmitted cultural symbol or a social idea, memes (rhymes with team) can be anything ranging from a joke, a story, pictures or a quirky figure of speech that travels faster than the breaking news.
8) FOMO: Considered as the evil cousin of YOLO (You Live Only Once), FOMO stands for fear of missing out, is actually a pop-culture derived social anxiety or fear you feel that you will miss out on something huge if you don't do participate in an event. Remember theparty that you attended last night despite being sickly tired, yes that was because of FOMO.
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