Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year 2014
Hold Onto Your Bae . . . New Words Were Just Added to the Dictionary
When it comes to new terms coined this year, the Oxford English Dictionary thinks "vape," which was added in August, smoked the competition, crowning it the 2014 word of the year. Thanks to the recent popularity of e-cigarettes, "vaporizing" — "to inhale and exhale the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device" — has become commonplace. But which others came close?
"Bae," a noun "used as a term of endearment for one's romantic partner," is a term that Oxford noted as a strong contender. The dictionary also deemed "contactless" ("relating to or involving technologies that allow a smart card, mobile phone, etc. to contact wirelessly to an electronic reader, typically in order to make a payment"), "normcore" ("a trend in which ordinary, unfashionable clothing is worn as a deliberate fashion statement"), and "slacktivism" ("actions performed via the Internet in support of a political or social cause but regarded as requiring little time or involvement") as runners-up for the word of the year title.
What do you think about these modern additions to the English language?
