For most of us, the English language feels like a constant \u2013 something that just doesn\u2019t really change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure enough, there are some parts of the language that haven\u2019t changed much since William Shakespeare sat down to write Romeo and Juliet. However, there are also plenty of new words and changes that would leave Shakespeare scratching his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this list, we\u2019re going to explore 10 words that didn\u2019t exist before the year 2000. We\u2019ll also take a look at the origin of each word and how common it is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, if we\u2019re really honest, \u2018selfies\u2019 have been around since neolithic people first started drawing themselves and their stone-age friends on cave walls \u2013 but the word itself is only around 20 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout the ages, self-portraits have been hugely popular. In fact, a self-portrait by Frida Kahlo recently sold for nearly $35 Million \u2013 but the age of digital cell phones meant almost everyone had an instant self-portrait machine in their pocket 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 13 September 2002, an Australian called Nathan Hope decided to share a picture of his split lip in an online science forum. He explained the damaged lip\u2019s drunken cause, then, aware that the picture was out of focus, he apologised in the caption, saying \u201c\u2026And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This type of word is known as a \u2018hypocorism\u2019 \u2013 a popular type of slang in Australia. It describes a word that is clipped down to a single syllable then given a \u2018y\u2019 or \u2018ie\u2019 ending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2013, the Oxford English Dictionary didn\u2019t just enter the word into its pages \u2013 it also crowned \u2018selfie\u2019 as \u201cword of the year\u201d. Quite impressive for a word that stemmed from a drunken fall just 11 years before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second \u2018portmanteau\u2019 on this list blends parts of the word \u201cbrother\u201d and \u201cromance\u201d to create the word \u201cbromance\u201d \u2013 a platonic love shared between two \u2018bros\u2019 \u2013 a slang term for male friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While \u201cbromance\u201d is now even considered to be a genre of movies and TV shows (think Top Gun, Lord of the Rings and It\u2019s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) \u2013 it was actually first coined in the skateboarding magazine Big Brother in the late 1990s by Dave Carie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carie used the term to describe the kind of love and regard that develops between skaters who spend a lot of time together. Despite it being unlikely that there are many skateboarders working for the Oxford English Dictionary, it was decided it would be included in their pages from 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Podcasts are virtually everywhere. No matter how niche your interest, there\u2019s almost certainly someone who shares it with you and is creating audio content around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Podcasts are such an intrinsic part of people\u2019s lives that they\u2019ve even overtaken radio and television for some people as their favourite form of media. In fact, the Joe Rogan Experience podcast attracts around 11 million listeners every week \u2013 that\u2019s more than most primetime TV shows in the US and the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what\u2019s the background of the word?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Podcast is a type of word known as a \u2018portmanteau\u2019 \u2013 the blending of parts of existing words to create an entirely new word. In this case, Guardian journalist Ben Hammersley blended \u2018iPod\u2019 and \u2018Broadcast\u2019 to create \u2018podcast\u2019 in a 2004 Guardian article. Shortly afterwards it picked up by early-adopters of the audioblogging community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2005, \u201cpodcast\u201d was added to the Oxford English Dictionary and was also given the title of \u201cword of the year\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask a child what they\u2019d like to be when they\u2019re older and many of them will tell you the same thing \u2013 a \u201cYouTuber\u201d. Older generations sometimes complain that these new digital roles aren\u2019t really jobs \u2013 but part of the reason why relates to the age of the word and the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n YouTube itself didn\u2019t launch officially until December 15, 2005 \u2013 and the term \u201cYouTuber\u201d didn\u2019t appear until the middle of 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n YouTube is a compound word \u2013 created by combining \u2018Tube\u2019 \u2013 an American slang term for a television, and \u2018You\u2019. The combined phrase is intended to let people know that the website gives \u2018you\u2019 the ability to appear on the \u2018tube\u2019. It is stylised with an upper case Y and T to reflect the company\u2019s branding. Adding \u2018r\u2019 to the end of the word creates \u2018YouTuber\u2019 \u2013 a YouTube user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Oxford English Dictionary added \u201cYouTuber\u201d to its pages in 2016 and defines the term as \u201cA frequent user of the video-sharing website YouTube, especially someone who produces and appears in videos on the site.\u201d <\/em>With some Youtubers amassing a wealth into the tens of millions of dollars while still being children, being a YouTuber is definitely an attractive career choice! <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u2018#\u2019 symbol is nothing new \u2013 but it reached new levels of popularity after open-source advocate and blogger Chris Messina proposed its use on Twitter as a way of grouping topics together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before social media days, a \u201chash tag\u201d or \u201ctag hash\u201d was used in IT to highlight specific pieces of text \u2013 and it was decided it would be a useful way of doing a similar job in the character-restricted space of Twitter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although we\u2019re yet to see groups of words organised with hashtags in the Oxford English Dictionary, it was decided that it should enter it\u2019s page in June of 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve ever had a song stuck in your head for an annoyingly long period of time, you\u2019ve experienced an \u201cearworm\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to studies into music and brain science, around 98% of people have experienced having an earworm \u2013 and it\u2019s usually the chorus of an especially catchy song that sticks in a person\u2019s thoughts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some popular earworms include \u201cPoker Face\u201d and \u201cBad Romance\u201d by Lady Gaga, \u201cMoves Like Jagger\u201d by Maroon 5, and the aptly named \u201cCan\u2019t Get You Out of My Head\u201d by Kylie Minogue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The word \u201cearworm\u201d is a type of word known as a \u2018calque\u2019 \u2013 which means it\u2019s a word that\u2019s borrowed from another language or adapted from a word in another language. In this case, earworm is thought to have developed from the German word \u201cOhrwurm\u201d \u2013 the practice of using ground up insect remains to treat ear infections. It might not be the most enjoyable practice to imagine, but, in time, it came to mean something that got stuck in your ear \u2013 as a piece of music might.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the word was coined in the 70s, it wasn\u2019t officially accepted into the Oxford English Dictionary until 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While some language purists will no doubt cringe at any mention of emojis, they\u2019ve become an increasingly important part of the English language since becoming popular worldwide in the 2010s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You could be fooled into thinking that the word \u201cEmoji\u201d has routes in the English word \u201cEmotion\u201d or even \u201cEmoticon\u201d (using characters to create faces within text) \u2013 but these similarities are entirely coincidental. In fact, the word emoji comes from the Japanese \u2018e\u2019 (\u7d75, meaning ‘picture’) and \u2018moji\u2019 (\u6587\u5b57, meaning ‘character’). <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Oxford English Dictionary added the word \u2018Emoji\u2019 in 2013 \u2013 and, in 2015, they picked the \u2018Face with Tears of Joy\u2019 emoji as their word of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what comes next for the English language? Based on the last few years, we can expect to see words like \u201cpeoplekind\u201d and other non-gender specific terms entering the dictionary. Whatever your opinion on the changing technologies, cultures, and attitudes of the word, there\u2019s no stopping them \u2013 and the most popular language on earth must continue to evolve to keep up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For most of us, the English language feels like a constant \u2013 something that just doesn\u2019t really change. Sure enough, there are some parts of the language that haven\u2019t changed much since William Shakespeare sat down to write Romeo and Juliet. However, there are also plenty of new words and changes that would leave Shakespeare… <\/p>\nWhat\u2019s next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n