Seemingly trivial things that elicit an emotional response of some kind

[Pross]

I can't believe selfie only came in in 2013. Then again I think they tend to lag a good year or two behind most years.

 

[briantrumpet]

I can't believe selfie only came in in 2013. Then again I think they tend to lag a good year or two behind most years.

 

[secretsqirrel]

They've got a fairly high strike rate of words that have lasted, but some have disappeared almost without trace, which I've marked with strike-through. (Copilot list: not an AI fail this time). It's amazing how quickly some of these have become totally normalised.

Year	Word/Phrase	Notes
2004	Chav	Derogatory UK slang for a young lower-class person.
2005	Sudoku	Puzzle craze that swept globally.
2006	Carbon footprint	Environmental awareness term.
2007	Locavore	Person who eats locally produced food.
2008	Credit crunch	Reflecting the global financial crisis.
2009	Unfriend	Popularized by Facebook.
2010	Refudiate	Coined by Sarah Palin, blending “refute” + “repudiate.”
2011	Squeezed middle	UK political/economic term for struggling middle class.
2012	GIF	Celebrating the resurgence of animated GIFs.
2013	Selfie	Explosive rise of smartphone self-portraits.
2014	Vape	E-cigarette culture.
2015	😂 (Face with Tears of Joy emoji)	First pictograph chosen.
2016	Post-truth	Politics and misinformation era.
2017	Youthquake	Youth-driven cultural/political movements.
2018	Toxic	Highlighting widespread societal issues.
2019	Climate emergency	Reflecting global environmental urgency.
2020	Words of an unprecedented year	No single word; multiple pandemic-related terms (e.g., lockdown, social distancing).
2021	Vax	Vaccination focus during COVID.
2022	Goblin mode	Slang for unapologetically lazy/self-indulgent behavior.
2023	Rizz	Internet slang for charisma/romantic charm.
2024	Brain rot	Describing effects of low-quality online content.
2025	Rage bait	Online content designed to provoke anger.

Just started getting into Sudoku in the last week as it happens. I guess I’m officially 20 years behind.

Also……..wait, what!

Squeezed middle in 2011? I thought that was a thing last week 🤔

 

[briantrumpet]

Squeezed middle in 2011? I thought that was a thing last week 🤔

Both Ngram and the OED (you can get full access to the latter if you've got a library card from a subscribing library) are excellent ways to waste hours of time.

Ngram shows reference to 'squeezed middle' from earlier than 2011, but here's the earliest citation in the OED.

 

[secretsqirrel]

Both Ngram and the OED (you can get full access to the latter if you've got a library card from a subscribing library) are excellent ways to waste hours of time.

Ngram shows reference to 'squeezed middle' from earlier than 2011, but here's the earliest citation in the OED.

View attachment 11374

Thanks Trumpet, but I was thinking about the Budget and all those hard working people paying for Benefit Street that I‘ve been told to get exercised about.

 

[Pblakeney]

I can't believe selfie only came in in 2013. Then again I think they tend to lag a good year or two behind most years.

What I find really funny is people thinking that "selfies" only started in 2013, or whatever year due to mobile phones.
They've been happening for decades prior to that.

 

[briantrumpet]

What I find really funny is people thinking that "selfies" only started in 2013, or whatever year due to mobile phones.
They've been happening for decades prior to that.

Haha, yes, the (literally) clockwork one on my original OM1, though with the cost of processing, the hit & miss nature of them, and the absence of social media (and the associated narcissism), they weren't much of a thing back then...

 

[PurplePenguin]

Is it now possible for someone else to take a selfie of you? I'm just trying keep up to date with language.