Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Twerk or Selfie?
When Mrs. Le asked us, "Twerk or Selfie, which word do you think is the word of the year?" we all assumed "Twerk" would have been the chosen word. We assumed "Twerk" most likely because of the rise in popularity of "Twerking" - dancing in a sexual manner, on social media such as; Vine, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube, the majority of "Twerkers" were in the teen-aged generation. Surprisingly "Selfie" was the official word of the year chosen by Oxford Dictionaries. Both words have "gained momentum throughout the English-speaking world in 2013..." But "Selfie" - a self portrait usually on a smartphone or webcam - was selected word of the year on Tuesday by the Oxford Dictionaries, based on a 17,000 percent rise in its usage from a year ago (Reuters, 2013). "Selfie" beat a number of other buzzwords of 2013, including "twerk" referring to dancing in a sexual manner which was popularized by singer Miley Cyrus at the MTV Video Music Awards last August (Reuters, 2013). As I am reading articles based on the chosen "Word of the Year," I've come across some words that are spinoffs of "Selfie" such as; "helfie" for a picture taken of someone's own hair, "belfie" for taking a picture of your own posterior and "drelfie" for a self portrait while in a drunken state (Reuters, 2013). These spinoff words seem rather ridiculous to me and makes me wonder who came up with them, why did "Selfie" and "Twerk" stick in our generation and make sense to us...and what's next? Which word will be next in the English Language and make sense to us, but seem weird to someone outside of our generation?
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Once the "history" of the term selfie is explained, it makes sense to me that it was chosen as word of the year. I think twerk is just at the front of everyone's minds because of the VMA fiasco and the general hoopla surrounding twerking (because Elvis Presley's hips have long been forgotten!)
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the spinoff words, with the exception of "drelfie". I feel like "helfie" should be something like "hairfie". I don't know...it just doesn't make sense to me.
Doesn't every generation seem ridiculous to the previous one? Language evolves and then it becomes normal. I remember when the loonie, and then the toonie, were introduced and the names were widely mocked. Now? No one thinks twice. Today I read an article about the rapid evolution of the use of "because". In the spirit of embracing change, the selfie has become so popular because Internet. :)
ReplyDeleteI love the idea that the OED chooses a word of the year, and that it 'officially' adds words to the English language. I think it really demonstrates that language does evolve. I heard that they think the origin of the word is from Australia 11 years ago - it sounds like an Aussie word, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteLast spring I was at a google conference and one of the keynote speakers was talking about the rising popularity of selfies. The very funny and interesting observation he made, and supported with various images taken from flickr and picasa, was that many are taken using mirrors in washrooms - public and private. He made the comment that people are so interested in themselves that they fail to think about what is in the background when they are taking a selfie, but the audience focuses at least as much on the toilet in the background as they do on the person taking the picture.
Honestly, I'm pretty relieved that the word of the year is selfie and not twerk. As ridiculous as selfies are (the duckface) I rather our generation be identified by a word defined as "a self portrait usually on a smartphone or webcam" over "dancing in a sexual manner." I don't know, just me.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the top two words of the year are twerk and selfie really shows how self centered our generation is. Both of these two acts are used to make oneself seem desirable or outgoing, which is in my opinion shows that a people feel the need to be complimented (or harassed) in order to feel good about themselves.
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