Word for Wednesday: Selfie

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Despite its relatively recent invention, the internet has introduced hundreds of new words and phrases into the English language, and a notable few (the likes of ‘Google’ and ‘LOL’) have even made it into the dictionary!

But in the last year or so, an unforeseen fancy for self-portraiture has afforded us a new word which has spread like a virus: ‘selfie’.

Immediately the 21st century question of social-media-inspired vanity comes to mind, but it is worth remembering that the concept of a ‘selfie’ itself has been with us for thousands of years through self-portraiture and many would argue the case that the ‘selfie’ is an instantaneous means of expression.

Knock it all you want, but the ‘selfie’ is a global phenomenon and is probably here to stay; I had a giggle at the thought of the history books in schools of the distant future and the bemused children trawling through pictures of ‘selfies’, ‘internet memes’ and ‘googlewhacks’.

Here’s the dictionary entry for ‘selfie’:

Selfie
NOUN (plural selfies)

  • informa
  • A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website: occasional selfies are acceptable, but posting a new picture of yourself every day isn’t necessary

Here is the first ever recorded selfie, snapped in 1839 by Robert Cornelius.

And the craze isn’t limited to us humans either!

That’s all for this week, feel free to tweet us your own spelling selfies @Spellzone

Happy snapping!


04 Jun 2014
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