"GIF" Wins Word of the Year (Oxford American Dictionary)

SwoLy-D · Nov 13, 2012

"GIF" wins Word of the Year by the Oxford American Dictionary.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/gif-named-word-oxford-american-dictionary-011329215.html

It's been delighting people around the world for 25 years but now formally holds a honored place in the cultural lexicon: "GIF" has been chosen as word of the year by the Oxford American Dictionary.
"GIF celebrated a lexical milestone in 2012, gaining traction as a verb, not just a noun," said Katherine Martin, head of the U.S. dictionaries program at Oxford.
"The GIF has evolved from a medium for pop-cultural memes into a tool with serious applications including research and journalism, and its lexical identity is transforming to keep pace."
GIF is, in fact, an abbreviation of three separate words: Graphics Interchange Format. It was first released by CompuServe in 1987 but has experienced a dramatic cultural resurgence in recent years, most commonly used to make humorous commentary on topics ranging from sports to the 2012 presidential election.
The runner-up for the word of the year was also an abbreviation, "YOLO," which stands for "You only live once."
"Superstorm" was another runner-up for word of the year, after the major storm that affected the Eastern U.S. during the first week of November.
The British Oxford Dictionaries went a different route, choosing "omnishambles," as their word of the year, which is defined as "a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations."
Needless to say, having all three words shows how neologisms are having a growing influence in the cultural landscape.
Still, some older words have found new linguistic relevance. "Pleb," taken from the Roman word "plebs," has found a modern context in its derogatory usage to describe "a member of the ordinary people or working classes."
Interestingly, the word-of the-year distinction does not guarantee that the chosen words will actually be included in future editions of the Oxford English Dictionary.
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FIRST TIME I ever saw an animated GIF was on Netscape Composer's web page editing software. I included that envelope that flew. :grin:

Original non-Star Wars Kid:

Star Wars Kid:

droopy421 · Nov 13, 2012

Isn't gif a 3 word acronym? Acronym of the year?

heypartner · Nov 13, 2012

droopy421 said: ↑

Isn't gif a 3 word acronym? Acronym of the year?
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doesn't matter. An acronym can become a word. RADAR is a prime example. Same with "OK." right? SNAFU...etc

SwoLy-D · Nov 13, 2012

droopy421 said: ↑

Isn't gif a 3 word acronym? Acronym of the year?
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I'm with you on that. But, nonetheless, kids and some adults nowadays use "gif" as a word... as in "Dude... send me that Kate Upton dancing gif, man!"

Just an excuse to post one.

bobmarley · Nov 13, 2012

SwoLy-D said: ↑

I'm with you on that.
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An acronym must be a word.

Grape_Swisha281 · Nov 13, 2012

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"GIF" Wins Word of the Year (Oxford American Dictionary)

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