To thine own selfie be true, get with the lingo

YOU have to love the evolution of language. I’m sure there’s a word for it. The words that are most interesting are the new ones which pop up every year, ascending from everyday slang to inclusion in the Oxford English Dictionary.

This year’s big new word is selfie – “a photo that one has taken of oneself typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media site.” This newest OED definition is already littered with past contenders now part of common speech – smartphone, webcam, uploaded, social media – but selfie is the latest, reflecting the fact that these days we are all the digital children of Narcissus. Its usage went up 17,000% in 2013.

Apparently selfie used to be selfy, which makes it read even more narcissistic – the ‘y’ evolved to an ‘ie’, making the word seem cuter, more diminutive and appealing. Don’t ask me how changing the end letters of a word makes it feel nicer – I’m sure there’s a word for that too – but it works. Its origins are Australian, with the first use of the word recorded online in 2002, and has spawned a whole subgenre of uploadable DIY photography – helfie, belfie, welfie, drelfie, shelfie. They might sound like minor players in Lord of the Rings, but refer to self-snapped photos respectively of your hair, bum, workout, drunkenness and bookshelf. For people with far too much time on their hands.