Selfie, Twerk Among Dictionary Additions Embracing Digital Culture

By    |   Thursday, 29 August 2013 08:13 AM EDT ET

Oxford Dictionaries Online is embracing the digital culture with its newest inductions, which include selfie, twerk, cake pop, fauxhawk, emoji, and dozens of others.

Many of the new entries are odes to the Internet, like selfie, which is defined as a self-portrait taken of oneself and uploaded to a social media site like Instagram or Facebook. Or emoji, a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion in electronic communication.

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"The additions may have only just entered the dictionary, but we’ve been watching them for a while now, tracking how and where they are used," Oxford wrote on its website. "Selfie [was] featured on our Words on the Radar post back in June 2012. At the time, selfie was featured primarily in social media contexts, but had attracted media attention after Hillary Clinton apparently used the word in a text message to the owner of a Tumblr dedicated to an image of her texting."

Another notable new term is twerk, which means to dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance, ala Miley Cyrus' MTV Video Music Awards performance.

Twitter users had a lot to say about the new Oxford additions.






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Oxford Dictionaries Online is embracing the digital culture with its newest inductions, which include selfie, twerk, cake pop, fauxhawk, emoji, and dozens of others.
selfie,twerk,dictionary,additions
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2013-13-29
Thursday, 29 August 2013 08:13 AM
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