If you were holding out hope that sexting was just a passing phenomenon, let the record show you have officially lost. Merriam-Webster, arguably the most credible decision maker on such matters, has announced its adding the word to its dictionaries alongside roughly one hundred other gems including f-bomb, a ha moment and man cave.
Every year, the company comes up with thousands of words that have entered the pop culture. After carefully researching to determine when the term was first utilized and how prevalent it has become, Merriam-Webster’s editors make the final decision on what to include and what will have to wait another year.
For example: according to The Washington Post, f-bomb has been around since 1988, but its usage didn’t really take off until several journalists used it to describe the fucks uttered during a post-game Bobby Knight rant. They weren’t f-words but f-bombs. After both Dick Cheney and Joe Biden dropped their own f-bombs during sessions of the Senate, the term reached full popularity and now, is dictionary worthy.
The same processes have occurred over the years for new winners such as game changer, gassed, tipping point and flexitarian, the latest of which, of course, means someone who occasionally breaks a vegetarian diet.
To check out more words that finally made this year’s cut, you can head on over to CBS.
