The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013 is ‘selfie’ 
 
 The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year for 2013 is selfie! 
 
 A picture can paint a thousand words 
 
 The decision was unanimous this year, with little if any argument. This is a little unusual. Normally there will be some good-natured debate as one person might champion their particular choice over someone else’s. But this time, everyone seemed to be in agreement almost from the start. Other words were considered, as you will see from our shortlist, but selfie was the runaway winner. It’s not a new word. For starters, it has already been included in Oxford Dictionaries Online (although not yet in the Oxford English Dictionary), and we wrote about it as part of our occasional Words on the Radar series back in June 2012. But our Word of the Year need not be a new word. However, it does need to demonstrate some kind of prominence over the preceding year or so and selfie certainly fits the bill. It seems like everyone who is anyone has posted a selfie somewhere on the Internet. If it is good enough for the Obamas or The Pope, then it is good enough for Word of the Year. 
 
 When selfie started 
 
 But what of the word itself? While it is safe to say that selfie’s star has risen over the last 12 months, it is actually much older than that. Evidence on the Oxford English Corpus shows the word selfie in use by 2003, but further research shows the earliest usage (so far anyway) as far back as 2002. Its use was, fittingly enough, in an online source – an Australian internet forum. 
 
 2002 ABC Online (forum posting) 13 Sept. 
 
 “Um, drunk at a mates 21st, I tripped ofer [sic] and landed lip first (with front teeth coming a very close second) on a set of steps. I had a hole about 1cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie.” 
 
 The term’s early origins seem to lie in social media and photosharing sites like Flickr and MySpace. But usage of it didn’t become widespread until the second decade of this century and it has only entered really common use in the past year or so. Self-portraits are nothing new – people have been producing them for centuries, with the medium and publication format changing. Oil on canvas gave way to celluloid, which in turn gave way to photographic film and digital media. As the process became snappier (pun intended) so has the name. And now as smartphones have become de rigueur for most, rather than just for techies, the technology has ensured that selfies are both easier to produce and to share, not least by the inclusion of a button which means you don’t need a nearby mirror. It seems likely that this will have contributed at least in part to its increased usage. By 2012, selfie was commonly being used in mainstream media sources and this has been rising ever since. 
 
 Early evidence for the term show a variant spelling with a –y ending, but the –ie form is vastly more common today and has become the accepted spelling of the word. It could be argued that the use of the -ie suffix helps to turn an essentially narcissistic enterprise into something rather more endearing. It also provides a tie-in with the word’s seemingly Australian origins, as Australian English has something of a penchant for -ie words – barbie for barbecue, firie for firefighter, tinnie for a can of beer, to name just three. 
 
 Other body parts are available 
 
 Its linguistic productivity is already being seen by the creation of a number of related terms, showcasing particular parts of the body like helfie (a picture of one’s hair) and belfie (a picture of one’s posterior); a particular activity – welfie (workout selfie) and drelfie (drunken selfie), and even items of furniture – shelfie and bookshelfie. In fact, it seems that the words knows no bounds, although some do seem rather forced, with multiple interpretations, like the apparent delfie (where the d could stand for dad, dog, double, or rather inexplicably dead) or melfie, with the m being explained as Monday, moustache, male, or mum. Whether any of these catch on in the same way is debatable. The multiple meanings may prove a difficult obstacle to overcome. One of the more popular offshoots is legsie, where the photograph is of a person’s outstretched legs, often with a suitably glamorous background visible, although this shows the productivity of the concept, rather than of the word. 
 
 Learn more about Word of the Year 
 
 Take a closer look at ‘selfie’ 
 
 Find out how we choose the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 
 
 Watch our video: The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is… ‘selfie’ ||||| A good “word of the year” will sum up our culture as it was during that particular orbit around the sun. Given that more and more tools are created every day that encourage us to focus on ourselves—to publicly share our opinions, our whereabouts, our calorie intakes, our playlists and our dogs’ mistakes—Oxford Dictionaries’ choice certainly seems to capture the zeitgeist: 2013 was a selfie year. 
 
 For those 9% of Americans who still don’t have a cell phone, this is how Oxford defines selfie: 
 
 (n.) a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website. 
 
 Explaining why that word won the crown, Oxford editors note that usage of selfie has gone up 17,000% since this time last year. That’s according to their new word monitor, which scans web content and collects 150 million words each month. A dedicated team of editors thumbs through that data, which help determine when words should be welcomed into Oxford’s dictionaries. Though it so far hasn’t made the cut in the venerable Oxford English Dictionary, selfie was added to the hipper Oxford Dictionaries Online this August. 
 
 Oxford doesn’t require that a winning word come into existence during that calendar year, just that it “become prominent or notable in that time.” In 2013, selfie made it into countless headlines about celebrities and political scandals. It became the crux of museum exhibits dedicated to examining this modern form of digital expression (**adjusts monocle**). The word even made its debut on the judicial circuit, when a U.S. district court for North Carolina adopted TIME’s definition to support issuing a warrant for an alleged criminal’s cell phone. 
 
 The Oxford research team traced the usage of selfie back to 2002, when an Australian described a photo he or she had taken after landing “lip first” on a set of steps. What may have been the coinage of a hungover Aussie rambling in an online forum exploded over the past decade, helped along by the widespread adoption of smartphones. And the biggest bang in that explosion came this year. Just take a gander at this Google Trends chart showing search volumes for the term: 
 
 Oxford also released a shortlist of other words that didn’t quite make the cut. Among them are reminders of how digitally focused our lives have become and proof that Miley Cyrus‘ death grip on the world’s attention doesn’t extend to lexicographers—yet. Some might even argue that “twerk” was robbed. 
 
 bedroom tax: (n., in the UK) a reduction in the amount of housing benefit paid to a claimant if the property they are renting is judged to have more bedrooms than is necessary for the number of the people in the household, according to criteria set down by the government. 
 
 binge-watch: (v.) to watch multiple episodes of a television program in rapid succession, typically by means of DVDs or digital streaming. 
 
 bitcoin: (n.) a digital currency in which transactions can be performed without the need for a central bank. Also, a unit of bitcoin. 
 
 olinguito: (n.) a small furry mammal found in mountain forests in Colombia and Ecuador, the smallest member of the raccoon family. 
 
 schmeat: (n.) a form of meat produced synthetically from biological tissue. 
 
 showrooming: (n.) the practice of visiting a shop or shops in order to examine a product before buying it online at a lower price. 
 
 twerk: (v.) dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance. ||||| Lake Superior State University 2014 List of Banished Words 
 
 Tweet Add your comments on our Facebook page SELFIE Has the honor of receiving the most nominations this year. "People have taken pictures of themselves for almost as long as George Eastman's company made film and cameras. Suddenly, with the advent of smartphones, snapping a 'pic' of one's own image has acquired a vastly overused term that seems to pop up on almost every form of social media available to us….A self-snapped picture need not have a name all its own beyond 'photograph.' It may only be a matter of time before photos of one's self and a friend will become 'dualies.' LSSU has an almost self-imposed duty to carry out this banishment now." – Lawrence, Coventry, Conn. and Ryan, North Andover, Mass. 
 
 
 
 "Named 'Word of the Year' by Oxford Dictionary? Give me a break! Ugh, get rid of it." – Bruce, Ottawa, Ont. "Myselfie disparages the word because it's too selfie-serving. But enough about me, how about yourselfie?" – Lisa, New York, NY "It's a lame word. It's all about me, me, me. Put the smartphone away. Nobody cares about you." -- David, Lake Mills, Wisc. Dayna of Rochester Hills, Mich., laments how many people observe "Selfie Sunday" in social media, and Josh of Tucson, Ariz., asks, "Why can't we have more selflessies?" TWERK / TWERKING Another word that made the Oxford Dictionaries Online this year. Cassidy of Manheim, Penn. said, "All evidence of Miley Cyrus' VMA performance must be deleted," but it seems that many had just as much fun as Miley did on stage when they submitted their nominations. "Let's just keep with 'shake yer booty' -- no need to 'twerk' it! Hi ho, hi ho, it's away with twerk we must go." – Michael, Haslett, Mich. Bob of Tempe, Ariz. says he responds, "T'werk," when asked where he is headed on Monday mornings. 
 
 
 
 "I twitch when I hear twerk, for to twerk proves one is a jerk -- or is at least twitching like a jerk. Twerking has brought us to a new low in our lexicon." – Lisa, New York, NY 
 
 
 
 "Time to dance this one off the stage." – Jim, Flagstaff, Ariz. "The fastest over-used word of the 21st century." – Sean, New London, NH. "The newest dictionary entry should leave just as quickly." – Bruce, Edmonton, Alb. 
 
 HASHTAG We used to call it the pound symbol. Now it is seeping from the Twittersphere into everyday expression. Nearly all who nominated it found a way to use it in their entries, so we wonder if they're really willing to let go. #goodluckwiththat "A technical term for a useful means of categorizing content in social media, the word is abused as an interjection in verbal conversation and advertising. #annoying!" – Bob, Grand Rapids, Mich. "Typed on sites that use them, that's one thing. When verbally spoken, hashtag-itgetsoldquickly. So, hashtag-knockitoff." – Kuahmel, Gardena, Calif. "Used when talking about Twitter, but everyone seems to add it to everyday vocabulary. #annoying #stopthat #hashtag #hashtag #hashtag ." – Alex, Rochester, Mich. "It's #obnoxious #ridiculous #annoying and I wish it would disappear." – Jen, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. "#sickoftheword" – Brian, Toronto, Ont. TWITTERSPHERE To which we advise, keep all future nominations to fewer than 140 characters. "There cannot possibly be any oxygen there." – Matt of Toledo, Ohio MISTER MOM The 30-year anniversary of this hilarious 1983 Michael Keaton movie seems to have released some pent-up emotions. It received nearly as many nominations as "selfie" and "twerk" from coast to coast in the U.S. and Canada, mostly from men. "It was a funny movie in its time, but the phrase should refer only to the film, not to men in the real world. It is an insult to the millions of dads who are the primary caregivers for their children. Would we tolerate calling working women Mrs. Dad?" says Pat, of Chicago, who suggests we peruse the website captaindad.org, the manly blog of stay-at-home parenting. "I am a stay-at-home dad/parent. And if you call me 'Mr. Mom,' I will punch you in the throat. – Zachary, East Providence, RI. "Society is changing and no longer is it odd for a man to take care of his children. Even the Wall Street Journal has declared, "Mr. Mom is dead" (Jan. 22, 2013). I think it is time to banish it." – Chad, St. Peters, Mo. T-BONE This common way of describing an automobile collision has now made it from conversation into the news reports. While the accident's layout does, indeed, resemble its namesake cut of beef, we'd prefer to dispense with the collateral imagery and enjoy a great steak. "As in 'crashed into another car perpendicularly.' Making a verb out of a cut of beef?" – Kyle, White Lake, Mich. _______ ON STEROIDS New! Improved! Steroidal! "Please, does the service at my favorite restaurant have to be 'on steroids' (even though the meat may be)?" – Betsy, Los Angeles, Calif. SUFFERING SUFFIXES: Many in advertising and in the news took two words – Armageddon and Apocalypse and shortened them into two worn-out suffixes this year. –AGEDDON –POCALYPSE "Come on down, we're havin' car-ageddon, wine-ageddon, budget-ageddon, a sale-ageddon, flower-ageddon, and so-on-and-so-forth-ageddon! None of these appear in the Book of Revelations." – Michael, Haslett, Mich. "Every passing storm or event is tagged as ice-ageddon or snow-pocalypse. There's a limited supply of ...ageddons and ...pocalypses; I believe it's one, each. When running out of cashews becomes nut-ageddon, it's time to re-evaluate your metaphors." – Rob, Sellersville, Penn. POLITICS: Politicians never fail to disappoint in providing fodder for the list. INTELLECTUALLY / MORALLY BANKRUPT Used by members of each political party when describing members of the other. OBAMACARE A wandering prefix (see 2010's "Obama-") finally settles down. We thought it might rival "fiscal cliff," the most-nominated phrase on the 2013 list, but it didn't come close. Cal of Cherry Hill, NJ wonders, "Are there intellectual creditors?" "Because President Obama's signature healthcare law is actually called the Affordable Care Act. The term has been clearly overused and overblown by the media and by members of Congress." – Ben of New Jersey "What more can I say?" – Jane, McKinney, Tex. SPORTS: ADVERSITY Heard often in the world of football. FAN BASE Why use one word when apparently two are twice as better? "Facing adversity is working 50 hours a week and still struggling to feed your kids. Facing third and fifteen without your best receiver with tens of millions in the bank, is not." – Kyle, White Lake, Mich. "From the world of sports comes the latest example of word inflation. What's wrong with the word 'fans'?" – Paul, Canton, Mich. Add your comments on our Facebook page LSSU accepts nominations for the banished-words list throughout the year. To submit your nomination for the 2015 list, go to http://www.lssu.edu/banished/submit_word.php. Check out the compiled list to make sure your nomination hasn't already been banished! Lake Superior State University, overlooking the St. Mary’s River in Sault Ste. Marie, is Michigan's smallest public university with an enrollment of about 3,000 students. It is known for its academic programs such as fisheries and wildlife management, engineering, nursing, criminal justice, fire science and much more. Students enjoy the personal attention they receive from their professors both in the classroom and in the field. For admissions information, go to LSSU's admissions web site, www.lssu.edu/admissions.
– What do the first daughters, Pope Francis, and countless celebs have in common? They all made headlines with selfies in 2013, making it easy for Oxford Dictionaries to choose its annual word of the year. "Selfie" was a rare unanimous decision for the organization, it reports on its blog. The word was actually featured as far back as June 2012 on the dictionaries' site, but this year, "it seems like everyone who is anyone has posted a selfie somewhere on the Internet." Some selfie facts: "Selfie" has been around since at least 2002, the blog notes. That's when an Australian student wrote online about falling over while drunk at a 21st birthday party, accompanying his post with a photo of a damaged pair of lips, the Telegraph reports (it has the photo). "Sorry about the focus, it was a selfie," his post read. Though the word has existed for more than a decade, "it has only entered really common use in the past year or so," the blog points out. In fact, usage has increased 17,000% within the year, Time reports. "Given that more and more tools are created every day that encourage us to focus on ourselves—to publicly share our opinions, our whereabouts, our calorie intakes, our playlists, and our dogs’ mistakes—Oxford Dictionaries' choice certainly seems to capture the zeitgeist: 2013 was a selfie year," writes Katy Steinmetz in the magazine.. Runners-up include "twerk" and "bitcoin," the Telegraph notes. Time has this year's 11 biggest selfies, including shots of the Obamas and the pontiff—but not Kim Kardashian.