It's a word that was created 25 years ago and technically it's an anacronym, but it's become so trendy that the Oxford American Dictionaries has named it the word of the year. 

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Maybe it would be more appropriate to call it the "techie" thing of the year because you see them everywhere you look on social media sites.  You've seen them, but might not know what they're called.

Those looping animations of a series of a still photos to create a short video is called a GIF, short for a Graphics Interchange Format.  Pronounced "jif" - it's the word of the year.

Some other words that were considered:

  • Eurogeddon - the potential financial collapse of the European Union and what could be a catastropic impact on not only European countries, but the world.
  • Super PAC - an independent political action committee that's able to raise unlimited amounts of money through contributions from coroporations, unions and individuals.  They can advertise their position, but they can't actually deal directly with political candidates or parties.
  • Superstorm - what had been Hurricane Sandy turned into an unusually large and destructive Superstorm.
  • Nomophobia - the anxiety caused when you don't have your mobile phone.  (No + mo(bile) + phobia).
  • YOLO - You Only Live Once, the rationale for impulsive or irresponsible behavior.
  • MOOC - Massive Open Online Course, something offered by a university free of charge.

 

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