The IndUS Network e-magazine

 

2013 Word of the year is ...

and other popular words of the year 2013!


The word "Selfie" was nominated as the word of the year for 2013. Probably, you should be knowing the meaning -

(n.) a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.

Do you know other derivations of Selfie and other words which became very popular or annoying in 2013? Time to know it!


Image credit:vulcanpost.com


Image credit: internet.com

Look at the following variations of "Selfie" and see whether you know the meaning for these words.

a. Shelfie
b. Grelfie
c. Snowfie

Answer:
As you can notice, there are many variations of selfie cropping up. As reports say the first usage of the word was by an aussie in 2002. It just followed a culture of adding a 'fie' to a word to make it easy to pronounce. Now the trend is catching up globally. Very soon you will more words documented here.

Shelfie - a picture of your book shelf
Grelfie - a group picture of oneself
Snowfie - a picture of oneself in a snow storm!


Image credit: www.writeclickscrapbook.com

You would have heard words such as binge-eating, binge-drinking, binge-spending, binge-writing, binge-studying, binge-flying to denote doing an action excessively. This year popularized the word binge-watching. What do you think the word means?

a. Excessive watching of TV
b. Excessive watching of movies
c. Excessive watching of DVD or Movie Streaming
d. Continuous watching of TV serials (without waiting) with a DVD or video streaming.

Answer: [d]
This word was made popular when Netflix (video streaming company) began releasing episodes of its serial programming all at once, rather than individually, with the explicit intention of encouraging binge-watching. Needless to say, it became a hit!


Image credit: icn_blog.world-mysteries.com

This year, the word "bitcoin" became very popular both for good and bad reasons. Do you know what a bitcoin means?

a. a coin of a country
b. something related to computer bit
c. a digital currency in which transactions can be performed without the need for a central bank

Answer: [c]
This virtual currency became very popular in 2012 and was in the news for various reasons in 2013.


Image credit: noshmeat.com

When you are buying your meat next time, check the label to see it is not 'schmeat'! So, what is schmeat?

a. sweetened meat
b. chopped meat
c. synthetic meat

Answer: [c]
Meat that are grown biologically, also known as synthetic meat, is now called schmeat! These man-made meats are also called as 'in-vitro meat’ or ‘cultured meat’ became important when Dutch scientists served up the world's first hamburger in August! Days are not too far away when you need to ask for 'organic' (natural) meat instead of 'synthetic' (man-made) meat at your local fast food restaurants.


Image credit:www.hubba.com

If you are a consumer who visits the retail store to learn more about a product to order online later, you now have a name. Guess what it could be?

a. Showroomer
b. Onliner
c. Showliner

Answer: [a]
Showroomer or showrooming is a practice of visiting a shop or shops in order to examine a product before buying it online at a lower price.

 

Hope you had fun !