Thanks, Miley: 'Twerking' Now in Dictionary

Derp, derp, derp, vom.
By Ruth Brown,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 28, 2013 8:29 AM CDT
Thanks, Miley: 'Twerking' Now in Dictionary
Robin Thicke, left, and Miley Cyrus perform at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.   (Photo by Scott Gries/Invision/AP)

It seems Miley Cyrus is dominating our conversations in more ways than one. Among words added this quarter to the Oxford Dictionaries Online is "twerking"—the ass-shaking dance move that had everyone talking about Miley after this week's MTV VMAs. Though the word has been around for about 20 years, an Oxford Dictionaries spokesperson tells the BBC that "by last year, it had generated enough currency to be added to our new words watch list, and by this spring, we had enough evidence of usage frequency in a breadth of sources to consider adding it to our dictionaries of current English."

Among other words added in the dictionary's latest update, per Quartz:

  • Cakepop: "A small round piece of cake coated with icing or chocolate and fixed on the end of a stick so as to resemble a lollipop."
  • Derp: "(Used as a substitute for) speech regarded as meaningless or stupid, or to comment on a foolish or stupid action."
  • Girl crush: "An intense and typically non-sexual liking or admiration felt by one woman or girl for another."
  • Vom: "(Be) sick; vomit. "
  • Me time: "Time spent relaxing on one’s own as opposed to working or doing things for others, seen as an opportunity to reduce stress or restore energy."
(More Oxford English Dictionary stories.)

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