'Selfie' Origins: Oxford Dictionaries 2013 Word of the Year First Used in Australian Online Forum

Oxford Dictionaries have named “selfie” as 2013 Word of the Year, beating out Miley Cyrus’s “twerk.” Officials claim that the word became popular in 2012 but “selfie” was first used in an Australian forum in 2002.

The word, according to the publisher of the Oxford Dictionaries increased its use in 2012 by as much as 17,000%. BBC News noted that the word of the year “has evolved from a niche social media tag into a mainstream term” which means, a self-portrait photograph.

The editorial director for Oxford Dictionaries, Judy Pearsall traced back the first use of “selfie” in an Australian online forum. Still citing the statement made by Pearsall, BBC News said that the hashtag (hash)selfie “#selfie” first appeared on Flickr, a photo-sharing website, in 2004.

Looking back to the history of “selfie,” BBC noted in its report that a man shared a picture of himself with injuries in his face. With the picture was a caption of his apologies for the photo being out of focus, explaining “it was a selfie.”

"Social media sites helped to popularise the term, with the hashtag #selfie appearing on the photo-sharing website Flickr as early as 2004, but usage wasn't widespread until around 2012, when selfie was being used commonly in mainstream media sources," Pearsall was quoted as saying by BBC News.

“Selfie” has beaten out other 2013 buzzwords such as "twerk", "bitcoin" and "showrooming,” according to ABC Online.

Other popular words enumerated by BBC News as contenders and included in the shortlist for the 2013 word of the year included, "binge-watch" (the act of watching lots of TV); "Schmeat" (a form of meat from biological tissue). Fox News listed other words of the year as "unfriend" (2009), "credit crunch (2008), "carbon footprint" (2007) and "Soduko" (2005).

“Selfie” has become more popular with prominent individuals used for their smart phone self-portrait. According to Fox News, it saw First Lady Michelle Obama, sharing her first dog, Bo and former First Lady, Hillary Clinton posted one on Twitter with daughter, Chelsea.

BBC News posted a photo of the Obama girls, taking selfie and the Pope with teenagers in a selfie that went viral.

The news website added that “selfie” is defined by the Oxford Dictionaries as "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.”

It has been added to the Oxford Dictionaries Online in August and reports are saying it is being considered to be added the Oxford English Dictionary.

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