By Cherysh Madeira
Twerking was the dance craze heard around the world. We looked on every bit of social media and there it was, spreading like wild fire. A fire that burned so far that the flames reached the dry pages of the paperback Oxford Dictionary. When the news spread that the infamous word was added, the Internet world lost its mind.
Twerking, according to the dictionary, is defined as “to dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.” If that’s the definition for some dancing trend, I can’t bear to imagine what other ridiculous words are being added to our everyday vocabulary.
There are even more weird words that I found interesting, for instance, mankini. It’s defined as a brief, one-piece bathing garment for men. So basically man panties. The example given was “Don’t look but that guy is wearing a mankini.” It was put in the Oxford dictionary as well as the Collins English dictionary. Thankfully there was no picture example. Selfie is even in the dictionary! It’s defined as a picture taken by oneself of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam.
The new word selection isn’t clear, but that process may have to change with the way the dictionary is changing. Words are just getting crazier and crazier and the officials in the dictionary industry are actually acknowledging them! It’s only a matter of time before text abbreviations like LOL or OMG are going to be inserted.
Photo Courtesy of: henrylim.org
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/twerk?s=t
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mankini?s=t
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/selfie?s=t