This week the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) got just a bit more robust. Yes, the annual additions have been made. The possibility is almost palpable…
So, without further ado, I give you the class of 2014:
bestie (n.): a person’s best friend; a very close friend.
heroine-worship (v.): to admire (a woman one views as a heroine) intensely, excessively, or uncritically.
dead white male (n.): a dead Caucasian male writer, philosopher, etc., whose pre-eminence, esp. in academic study, is challenged as disproportionate to his cultural significance, and attributed to a historical bias towards his gender and ethnic group.
It’s like Christmas for linguistic enthusiasts and philosophy majors, and I’m going to add feminists to that list too. If our dictionary is a reflection of our society (which they are) then these dictionary freshman are a philosophical treasure. Seriously, what these terms say about us as a culture could be analyzed for decades.
And I’m thrilled to say that it is looking good for the ladies. Sorry guys, but these additions to the OED approved vernacular are almost entirely reflective of a growing female influence. There’s a whole lot of heroine-worship going on (although I always preferred the term “girl-crush”…2015, maybe?), and it is about time.
You can make an argument for bestie being gender neutral, but you’d be reaching.
For now we’ll bask in the glow of this new age, and wait for our spellchecks to catch up with the times.
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TIME: Behind Bestie: What We Learn About Gender From New Dictionary Additions
…bi-daily smile…
