Oxford Dictionary picked “vape” as its word of the year.
Judy Pearsall, Editorial Director for Oxford Dictionaries, said: “As vaping has gone mainstream, with celebrities from Lindsay Lohan to Barry Manilow giving it a go, and with growing public debate on the public dangers and the need for regulation, so the language usage of the word ‘vape’ and related terms in 2014 has shown a marked increase.”
Usage of the word “vape” has grown steadily alongside the electronic cigarettes industry. According to CBS, usage of the word doubled in 2014.
But vape isn’t a new word. It’s been used since at least 1983 when author Rob Stepney wrote an article which imagined the future of cigarettes.
Stepney wrote: “The new habit, if it catches on, would be known as vaping.”
Vape can be used as a verb or as a noun. As a verb, it means to “inhale and exhale the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device.” As a noun, it means “An electronic cigarette or similar device; an act of inhaling and exhaling the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device.”
Vape won Oxford Dictionary’s Word Of The Year award this year but it did have some competition. Bae, a term of endearment, budtender, a person who sells legal marijuana, and normcore, the practice of wearing unfashionable clothing to make a fashion statement, were all on the dictionary’s shortlist.
photo credit: planetc1 via photopin cc
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