The word “GIF” beat out “YOLO” to be named the Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year.
The word “GIF” is an acronym for graphics interchange format. “To GIF” something is “to create a GIF file of (an image or video sequence, especially relating to an event),” according to Oxford’s website. The term was originally coined in 1987.
“The GIF, a compressed file format for images that can be used to create simple, looping animations, turned 25 this year, but like so many other relics of the 80s, it has never been trendier,” Oxford’s website read.
The GIF has moved beyond light topics to reflect on major events such as the recent U.S. election. Tumblr and the Guardian teamed up to live-GIF the presidential debates, the website said.
“The GIF has evolved from a medium for pop-cultural memes into a tool with serious applications including research and journalism, and its lexical identity is transforming to keep pace,” the website said.
Each year, the Oxford University Press creates a panel of lexicographers to decide on the Word of the Year.
The panel of judges looks at various words, narrows them down to a few and picks the one that best represents the mood of the year.
In 2011, the Word of the Year was “squeezed middle” in reference to the Occupy movement and the economic situation worldwide.
“I think [GIF was] chosen to represent the transition of today’s society on the online medium since we use GIFs to the point where it becomes a way of communication,” said Samuel Chen, a third-year communication studies student at Carleton University and president of Raven’s Log, a campus group that makes humorous and promotional YouTube videos.
Another Carleton student, Vinisha D’Souza, said she thinks GIFs are so popular because they are more interactive than regular images.
“[GIFs] are moving and people can connect to things that move. They are more likely to be engaged in something that is animated rather than something that’s still.”
Other words in the running for Word of the Year were “YOLO” and “superstorm.”
YOLO is an acronym for “you only live once,” popularized by singer Drake’s song “The Motto.” Superstorm is an abnormally large and detrimental storm and was often used in the news media to refer to Hurricane Sandy.
