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Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
The editors at the Oxford Dictionaries have selected a new word of the year.
- The word "vape" grew in use over last year
- Oxford says it "arose to fill" a gap
- The word beat out "bae" and "normcore"
(CNN) -- Sorry, "bae."
The noun -- a " term of endearment for one's romantic partner" -- was shown no love by Oxford Dictionaries, which instead selected "vape" as the 2014 word of the year.
'Selfie' is Oxford's word of 2013
"Vape" can be used as either a noun meaning "an electronic cigarette or similar device" or a verb in which one would "inhale and exhale the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device."
According to a press release from Oxford, research showed the use of the word "vape" more than doubled in 2014 over the previous year. Couple that with the growth of electronic cigarettes into a multimillion dollar industry and the Oxford editors decided that the word's time had come.
"A gap emerged in the lexicon, as a word was needed to describe this activity, and distinguish it from 'smoking','" the Oxford press release says. "The word vape arose to fill this gap, and it has proliferated along with the habit."
Oxford's lexicographers grapple every year with a list of potential winners. Last year,