Blame Miley Cyrus
“Twerk,” the star’s dance move, is among new words added to the online Oxford English Dictionary.
“Twerk,” a provocative dance move performed by pop star Miley Cyrus this week, was added to Oxford Dictionaries Online on Wednesday.
The online dictionary also includedwords such as “selfie,” a photograph taken of oneself using a phone, and “unlike,” the withdrawal of approval on social media, in its latest update to reflect the increasing use of technology and social media.
Spokeswoman Katherine ConnorMartin said Oxford Dictionaries Online adds about 1,000 entries to its online version every year.
She said that with Cyrus hitting headlines this week for “twerking” at the MTV Video Music Awards, the word has generated enough usage to be added to the online dictionary— a cousin of the venerable Oxford English Dictionary, one of the largest dictionaries in theworld.
Arising in the early 1990s, theword is described in the online dictionary as “a dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.”
“The current public reaction to twerking is reminiscent in some ways of how the twisting craze was regarded in the early 1960s, when it was first popularized by Chubby Checker’s song ‘ The Twist,’ ” Con- norMartin said.
Otherwordssuchas “digital detox,” where a person refrains from using smartphones or computers, and “fomo,” or fear of missing out — the anxiety that an interesting event may be happening elsewhere — have also been added.
“Omnishambles,” a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, is also among the new entries.
Babymoon:
Emoji:
Jorts:
Squee:
Srsly: