The word of the year is an addictive mist

What new words have we used in 2014 to talk about ourselves and our world?

“[L]anguage has preserved for us the inner, living history of man’s soul,” wrote Owen Barfield in his book History in English Words. “It reveals the evolution of consciousness.”

Each year, Oxford Dictionaries chooses a “Word of the Year”—one that reflects our culture’s conversation over the past months and has the potential to stick in our vocabularies. This year’s contestants come from topics as diverse as drugs, activism, fashion, and finance, but the winner announced this week is “vape,” which emanates from the e-cigarette industry.

According to OxfordDictionaries.com, vape as a verb means to “inhale and exhale the vapor produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device” and as a noun refers to the device.

Word of the Year contestants were not necessarily coined in the past 12 months, but have recently come into common use. Oxford Dictionaries scans new web content and collects about “150 million words of current English in use each month,” according to the company. Oxford Dictionaries said the first known use of vape appeared in the 1983 article “Why do People Smoke” to describe a “hypothetical device”—about two decades before the e-cigarette was invented in 2003. But “use of the word vapein 2014 has more than doubled compared to 2013,” according to the Word of the Year announcement.

Use of the word “vape” spiked in April when the U.K. opened its first “vape café” and New York City banned indoor vaping, sparking protests, according to the Oxford Dictionaries blog. The World Health Organization says e-cigarettes are likely less toxic than traditional cigarettes, but uncertainty over their health risks combined with concern over drawing a new generation into nicotine addiction causes many to oppose the devices.

Some of the new words, such as vape, come from shortening old ones (“vapor” or “vaporize”), but some come from creative combinations. “Slacktivism” blends “slacker” and “activism” and was one of this year’s contestants.

OxfordDictionaries.com defines slacktivism as “actions performed via the internet in support of a political or social cause but regarded as requiring little time or involvement.” Examples from the past year might include re-posting a plea to “Bring Back Our Girls” (in support of the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram) or changing a social media profile picture to the Arabic letter “Nun” (in solidarity with Christians persecuted by ISIS).

Another blended word on the Word of the Year shortlist has risen in popularity as recreational marijuana has become legal in more states. “Budtender,” from “bud” and “bartender,” refers to “a person whose job is to serve customers in a cannabis dispensary or shop,” according Oxford Dictionaries.

Some words gaining in popularity relate to new technological capabilities. “Podcast” won Word of the Year in 2005 and “contactless”—an adjective describing handheld devices that wirelessly contact an electronic reader—made this year’s short list.

Other newly common words relate to a social phenomenon. “Selfie” won last year’s Word of the Year. And a contender for the 2014 winner was “normcore,” a fashion trend in which common clothes like T-shirts and cargo-shorts are cool.

Not all Word of the Year winners necessarily land an entry in an Oxford Dictionary. Although popular at the moment, it’s too soon to say whether many of the new words will have longevity, the company said. Nonetheless, looking at the language we’ve used is one way to reflect on the year that’s coming to a close.