The Oxford Dictionary has announced its ‘Word of the Year’ and it is a “hardly-used” ‘Youthquake’. Not too many are entirely sure what it means.
The British dictionary publisher defines “youthquake” as, “a significant cultural, political or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people.”
Even Casper Grathwohl, the publisher’s president of dictionaries, admitted it was “not an obvious choice.” He further said in a blog post that, “Many of you may even be scratching your heads.”
The editors at the Oxford Dictionaries referred the word to the rallying of young people by Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party during the 2017 General Election.
The word aparantly saw a 400 percent increase in usage between 2016 and 2017.
YOUTHQUAKE is the Oxford Dictionaries #WordOfTheYear 2017. Find out more: https://t.co/BanfCMh2Gi pic.twitter.com/iIQ4ykwUwa
— Oxford Dictionaries (@OxfordWords) December 14, 2017
And quite understandably, the selection was met with some puzzlement on Twitter.
Some reactions were funny and there were a fare share of memes to keep everyone in splits,
A user wrote, “The Dictionary people: the word of 2017 is #youthquake! Everyone else:..”
“If I had a pound for every time I’d used the word #youthquake this year I’d be penniless. Is this a hoax thought up at the Oxford dictionaries Christmas party?” wrote another user.
Not according to my app! pic.twitter.com/NtSebtJ6Vj
— jeanne smith (@jeannesmith1) December 16, 2017
Another user wrote, “Just read that Oxford dictionaries named #Youthquake as their word of the year for 2017.
I claim Russian interference allowed this nonsense to happen, too.
— Big Gay IrishBearAZ (@irishbearaz) December 15, 2017
“I read a large selection of news every day for my job. Number of times I’ve read Youthquake. Once. Today.I think word of the year should be #The. It’s still largely ignored but popular,” tweeted another user.
— ❄️Anselmi Ahola❄️ (@ahmahound) December 17, 2017
“Honestly, wtf is a #youthquake though? Someone’s cringe dad is absolutely buzzing that the embarrassing word he made up has caught on,” wrote one user.
— Toby Gould (@TobyCGould) December 15, 2017
While some mocked the winning word, others pointed out that “youthquake” was the title of a 1985 album from British pop group ‘Dead or Alive’.
Youthquake #WordOfTheYear 1985 #music by Dead Or Alive • R.I.P. Pete Burns pic.twitter.com/FZWnZNGJzR
— Michael Teger (@AManAndAMouse) December 15, 2017
This is not the first time Oxford has chosen a unique word as its ‘Word of the Year’. In 2015, it sparked controversy after selecting “pictograph.”
People were confused that the Word of the Year was not a word but an emoji – the face with tears of joy.
Other terms that made the final shortlist are, antifa, broflake, gorpcore, kompromat, milkshake duck, newsjacking, unicorn and white fragility.
