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‘SELFIE’, ‘HASHAG’ AND ‘tweep’ are among more than 150 new words added to America’s best-selling Merriam-Webster dictionary, spotlighting the growing influence of technology on everyday life.
“So many of these new words show the impact of online connectivity to our lives and livelihoods,” said Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large for Merriam-Webster.
“Tweep, selfie, and hashtag refer to the ways we communicate and share as individuals,” he added.
Originally a social media buzzword, “selfie” was admitted to the online version of the Oxford English dictionary in 2013, which named it word of the year.
Merriam-Webster defined “selfie” as “an image of oneself taken by oneself using a digital camera especially for posting on social networks.”
The dictionary said a “more playful intersection” of technology and human behavior can be seen in “steampunk.”
The word made the cut and was defined as “science fiction dealing with 19th century societies dominated by historical or imagined steam-powered technology.”
“Crowdfunding,” “big data” and “gamification,” were also added, showing “how technology is being used to understand and motivate behavior,” the dictionary said.
Another newbie was “catfish,” defined as a person who sets up a false social networking profile for deceptive purposes.
Fracking
‘Fracking’ was also admitted to the dictionary.
The technique involves using huge amounts of pressurized water mixed with chemicals to crack open shale to release natural gas or oil.
It has unlocked an energy boom in the United States but has sparked controversy elsewhere as a threat to the environment and potential cause of earthquakes, with some countries banning it.
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What the hell is ‘tweep’??
Check the dictionary haha
FB is the new Bebo. Time to move to twitter :)
Nah I reckon it’s a piece of crap!!
I’m still waiting for someone to define ‘tweep’? Anyone?
Tweep is a person who is a fellow Twitter user I think?
(Twitter + Peep ) Tweep is apparently the followers of someone who uses Twitter.
Please please can we go back to a world where none of these obnoxious words exist! I’m feeling a horrible nostalgia for the mid-1990s.
The days where if you had a casio calculator watch you thought you were the bees knees, I miss those days too Stephen! I remember someone I knew had a mini portable black and white tv for their car, I thought it was space age the idea you could watch TV in the car and I vowed that when I grew up I would buy one myself, I was four at the time, how things have changed!
Rachel those portable TVs were deadly! I wanted one too and still do. I can’t believe I’m 32 and already harking back to the golden age of VCRs and mix tapes. But I want those days back, they were better and actually not all that innocent.
Mee too! I still have a VCR, I might not use it a whole lot but I refuse to part with it! Thirty one in a few months time and I feel old beyond my years, living in a world now full of crap over produced music, crap over hyped books, technology I’ve barley gotten to grips with before it suddenly changes again, smart phones that change every six months, words I don’t understand or loath like selfie, tweep and twerk, I long for the past simple and all as it was! Next on my list of stuff to buy is a record player, that phrase “if you can’t beat them join them” doesn’t appeal to me I refuse to join them even if it means getting left behind, at least I’ll be happy with what I know :)
Stop trying to steal my generation!!! Surely the 90s belonged to us people who are MUCH closer to 40. Rachel you are 30 so you were 6 when the 90s started and 16 when they ended! Thief!! :)
I’m about 10 years older give or take and I don’t class myself as an 80s kid. I grew up with Ataris, Soda Streams, Lava Lamps,The Stone Roses, Nirvana, ecstasy, the start of dance music. I am the 90′s kid damn you haha
Oh Rachel you put it all so well, it’s like a manifesto of refusal to accept the ephemeral shite of today, the 1980s/90s had way better standards, or at least way better pop music, so nice to know that someone else out there feels the same! And you can’t beat the sound of a record player so absolutely get one
So you agree with us Saul? Never mind who has the best credentials to talk about the 90s, it’s a state of mind!
Absolutely Stephen. Would swap all the technology for one night in a shitty nightclub wearing baggy jeans and dancing to The Shamen! Loving reading both your comments :)
On eBay now buying a Casio calculator watch haha. Thanks for the inspiration Rachel
Good times.
I remember much of the eighties too Saul, green double decker busses, coke in bottles, chopper bikes, atari’s, cap guns, fancy paper, space hoppers,roller skates that tied on to your shoes, the Banana splits, Dempsey’s Den, Padjo, Fortycoats, Bosco, my golly doll that I loved more than anything else in the world, I remember it all and it looking back I miss it terribly!
Were you around for the rave scene? I’m so bitter I missed it. Listening to ‘Move any Mountain’ on You Tube just isn’t the same…
Awww the memories guys, in stitches here at Saul, if you find a casio watch let me know and I’ll get one too! Yup they really were the best days ever!!!
I was in the middle of it Stephen. I even had the “curtains” hair, Sean Ryder style :)
Here you go Rachel…..loads of them
The old things are the best. I just can’t part with my rickets!
The song that reminds me most of the 90′s. Prepare to say…..”OH YA” :)
Ha I remember that song! I remember when ‘Ebenezer Goode’ was Christmas No.1, my parents were apoplectic, it was like the collapse of civilisation, bit of a shock after Cliff Richard!
Loved slipmat&lime! Have an older brother who played Ebenezer Goode over and over, everytime he got in trouble with the folks one of us would always shout naughty naughty in a London accent ha! With a sister big into heavy metal another into all things pop, a brother into house and rave and another into reggae I have an eclectic music taste, they however heaped scorn apon me when at a young age I saw this http://youtu.be/cO_brEreGLw on tv and loved it so much so I recorded it and played it to my hearts content, it’s so cheesey and corny but it still brings me back! Also loved sultanas of ping too so my taste wasn’t all that bad……kinda ;)
As long as you don’t starting looking for ecstasy and baggy pants you’ll be fine
I dunno, words like Yolo and tweep makes my skin crawl
Tweep??
‘Catfish’ should be useful on here
Most of these ersatz buzzwords will be utterly forgotten in a few years. To include such obviously ephemeral slang terms serves only to undermine the supposed purpose of a dictionary. The so-called custodians of the English lexicon are so obsessed with being “on trend” that they’re actually damaging the very fabric of the language.
Trust me Finners I would in a heartbeat!
Straight back, no detours!!!!
Quack quack
Sorry guys, nostalgia is great but there is no way you’d go back!
* tweep – a person who uses the Twitter online message service to send and receive tweets.
Try again
What about ‘Duckface’? Is that one of the new words added????
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