It’s that time of the year again. With a fanfare and a drum roll, it’s time to announce the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year. The votes have been counted and verified and I can exclusively reveal that the winner 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 it 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 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.”

What forum was it originally posted?

gotta be SSSF. Mike V, sibeen and Hopey.

Aww Hopey’s famous :D

Yay Hopey!

Congrats @ Hopey. I bet the ABC are regretting shutting the doors on SSSF, now that it’s finally world famous.

We should start posting more made-up words for the future. Perhaps Curve’s “mirthbusted” will finally be recognised.

and octacows

Well, well indeed.

What are the chances that a comment in chat from 2002, would not only be preserved on the electric internet, but would also be discovered and recognised by such an august body as the Oxford Dictionary?

ChrispenEvan said:

and octacows

PWM is waiting for a patent on that one.

Don’t forget bunnings, in the SSSF sense of the word.

I wonder how they found it. Presumably they included the year in the search.

party_pants said:

gotta be SSSF. Mike V, sibeen and Hopey.

LMAO

Bubblecar said:

Congrats @ Hopey. I bet the ABC are regretting shutting the doors on SSSF, now that it’s finally world famous.

I would hope so!

ABC digs up the photo. Hopey should sue:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-19/selfie-beats-twerk-as-word-of-the-year/5102154

I’m kinda sad that WB&D wasn’t mentioned in the screenshot…

Divine Angel said:

I’m kinda sad that WB&D wasn’t mentioned in the screenshot…

It is the cure all for all diseases of the mind, body and soul!

How could they miss it?

Odd that the ABC didn’t even bother identifying the forum.

Bubblecar said:

Odd that the ABC didn’t even bother identifying the forum.

They’re still trying to tell us the server has been switched off.

Yes, even on the ABC news page, they’re just calling it an ABC forum.

On the news item, at the end….“Are you Hopey? Or do you know him? Get in contact.”

Should we go with the ABC or the Murdoch papers?

“The link is now dead – but the ABC was able to recover the photo via the wonders of the Internet Archive’s Wayback ..”

Odd that they can do these wonders of the Modern Age, but couldn’t keep a very simple forum running…..

Probably a good thing though, ‘cos they’d probably call it Dr Karl’s SSSF, and we don’t want him taking the credit.

We could all contact them and tell them we knew Hopey and that the ABC killed Hopey.

;)

I don’t think Hopey’s posted in the Holiday Forum. But I could be wrong.

Then watch the Liberal govt misquote it and claim that the ABC killed hope.

Hopey’s not listed on the Facebook SSSF page.

WooooHooo, I’m da famous!!!!!

Probably developed another pseudonym and is here now….

good job there is no comments section on that page. i don’t think they’d like some of them. and the poster wasn’t dubbed Hopey that was his handle.

I don’t recall seeing Hopey on Nick’s forum either.

buffy said:

“The link is now dead – but the ABC was able to recover the photo via the wonders of the Internet Archive’s Wayback ..”

Odd that they can do these wonders of the Modern Age, but couldn’t keep a very simple forum running…..

True!

They have started up the Gardening Australia Forum again.

http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/Board.aspx?b=72

Recent posts and everything, I think we should go over there and trash the joint.

sibeen said:

WooooHooo, I’m da famous!!!!!

You were a midwife….or the elephant in the room

From: Bubblecar

ID: 433485

Subject: re: Tech Talk Substitute, for quick questions

Hopey said:
Try disabling all of the plugins, maybe?

One quick search and I found the above Hopey HF post, from 2009.

Neophyte said:

sibeen said:

WooooHooo, I’m da famous!!!!!

You were a midwife….or the elephant in the room

Without Michael V being around I can call you all “loosers”.

:)

https://www.facebook.com/abcnews.au?fref=ts

make a comment.

Selfies themselves have been around for centuries

How are people misunderstanding the article/photo? Self-portraits are as old as the hills; the whole point is origin of the term “seflie”.

If selfie is now a legitimate word, how come IE10 keeps underlining the word as an error when I type it?

(I was reading the comments on ABC fb page0

How are people misunderstanding the article/photo? Self-portraits are as old as the hills; the whole point is origin of the term “seflie”.

obviously not exsssfers. we grok these nuances.

Peak Warming Man said:

They have started up the Gardening Australia Forum again.

http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/Board.aspx?b=72

Recent posts and everything, I think we should go over there and trash the joint.

I think that is the reason we lost the forums in the first place, too many people trolling.

Bubblecar said:

Selfies themselves have been around for centuries

LOL

Wow!

Way to go Hopie!

So did anyone ever meet Hopey?

Was Hopey someone with multiple handles?

ms spock said:

So did anyone ever meet Hopey?

Was Hopey someone with multiple handles?

Yeah that was me.
Hopey was one of my handles.
(maybe …..)

I know who Hopey is

Arts said:

I know who Hopey is

Do they have a better known handle?

Witty Rejoinder said:

Arts said:

I know who Hopey is

Do they have a better known handle?

I don’t know.

Sheesh, Sibeen certainly didn’t waste any time taking credit over on the Guardian website :-)

Neophyte said:

Sheesh, Sibeen certainly didn’t waste any time taking credit over on the Guardian website :-)

Quick and the dead. If you want the contracts you must be seen, and my agent forced me to do it.

Neophyte said:

Sheesh, Sibeen certainly didn’t waste any time taking credit over on the Guardian website :-)

And with a typo to boot :D

So… who’s the mysterious and suddenly famous Hopey? Can you ask him if I can write the official biography?

Neophyte said:

Sheesh, Sibeen certainly didn’t waste any time taking credit over on the Guardian website :-)

link?

sibeen said:

Neophyte said:

Sheesh, Sibeen certainly didn’t waste any time taking credit over on the Guardian website :-)

Quick and the dead. If you want the contracts you must be seen, and my agent forced me to do it.

Next thing, sibeen’ll be charging for autographs.

Divine Angel said:

So… who’s the mysterious and suddenly famous Hopey? Can you ask him if I can write the official biography?

Hopey was a regular for years. Didn’t post as often as roughbarked, but then again, who does.

I know Hopey was a reg, but Arts claims to know The Real Hopey.

Skeptic Pete said:

Neophyte said:

Sheesh, Sibeen certainly didn’t waste any time taking credit over on the Guardian website :-)

link?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/19/selfie-australian-slang-term-named-international-word-of-the-year

Divine Angel said:

And with a typo to boot :D

SHADDUP!!!

The Rev Dodgson said:

Well, well indeed.

What are the chances that a comment in chat from 2002, would not only be preserved on the electric internet, but would also be discovered and recognised by such an august body as the Oxford Dictionary?

When did we stop labelling the chat thread “Dissolvable stitches” and start labelling it deceptive names like “chat”?

Stealth said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Well, well indeed.

What are the chances that a comment in chat from 2002, would not only be preserved on the electric internet, but would also be discovered and recognised by such an august body as the Oxford Dictionary?

When did we stop labelling the chat thread “Dissolvable stitches” and start labelling it deceptive names like “chat”?

It was a science thread. Chat got purged every month.

I coulda been a contender …

Still if it really was a Australian invention it should have been selfo :)

Dropbear said:

I coulda been a contender …

Still if it really was a Australian invention it should have been selfo :)

That’d be a yobbo invention, eh mate.

roughbarked said:

Dropbear said:

I coulda been a contender …

Still if it really was a Australian invention it should have been selfo :)

That’d be a yobbo invention, eh mate.

Sorry yes, I’ve come over all queenslander :)

Good morning all

A little quiet in here this morning?

24 degrees, 91% r/h and a massive amount of rain over night :)

I nearly fell out of my seat when I recognised the old SSSF on the ABC news web site yesterday, now it appears to be everywhere :)

Enjoy Wednesday everyone :D

Here is the full thread

Spider Lily said:

I nearly fell out of my seat when I recognised the old SSSF on the ABC news web site yesterday, now it appears to be everywhere :)

I first registered in 2000-2 or therabouts but didn’t post when they sent reminders. Then one day when I posted.. they said I wasn’t registered. Even though they were still sending me reminders to participate.

manfromironbark said:

Spider Lily said:

I nearly fell out of my seat when I recognised the old SSSF on the ABC news web site yesterday, now it appears to be everywhere :)

I first registered in 2000-2 or therabouts but didn’t post when they sent reminders. Then one day when I posted.. they said I wasn’t registered. Even though they were still sending me reminders to participate.

Were you manfromironbark then?

Tamb said:

manfromironbark said:

Spider Lily said:

I nearly fell out of my seat when I recognised the old SSSF on the ABC news web site yesterday, now it appears to be everywhere :)

I first registered in 2000-2 or therabouts but didn’t post when they sent reminders. Then one day when I posted.. they said I wasn’t registered. Even though they were still sending me reminders to participate.

Were you manfromironbark then?

ironbarked.

manfromironbark said:

Tamb said:

manfromironbark said:

I first registered in 2000-2 or therabouts but didn’t post when they sent reminders. Then one day when I posted.. they said I wasn’t registered. Even though they were still sending me reminders to participate.

Were you manfromironbark then?

ironbarked.

Right. Now I remember you. Welcome.

Tamb said:

manfromironbark said:

Tamb said:

Were you manfromironbark then?

ironbarked.

Right. Now I remember you. Welcome.

ta. :)