Love
is in the air, but thanks to technology, people are falling in love with
themselves, claims an old-timer.
AD: Hi, what's the Oxford English
Dictionary doing on your desk?
BC: I'm planning to give it away...
AD: Why, did you buy the latest version?
BC: No, I'm shattered that they've begun
introducing strange words into their dictionary...
AD: Like what?
BC: Like selfie - sounds like it's short
for selfish.
AD: It's the term used to describe people
taking shots of themselves...
BC:...and posting it online. You don't have
to explain.
AD: Of course! Both social media and the
print media are full of articles, pictures and descriptions of what the word
means and how it is becoming so popular.
AD: Look, you can’t argue with success, can
you? It has been crowned the most popular word of 2013. And for your
information, it has not been included in the Oxford English Dictionary – it is
part of Oxford Dictionary Online.
BC: Interesting, but why would people want
to keep shooting photos of themselves and post it online?
AD: Look, when they posted their holiday
photos, you had a problem with it. When they posted photos of their pets, you
cribbed. And they can't post photos of their kids winning the lime-and-spoon
race, of their morning breakfast or of a view of the sky from their window,
according to you. So that leaves them with no option, but to post their own
photos...
BC: But why this compulsive need to click
themselves? I find it strange that even celebrities indulge in it… On one hand,
they fight with photographers and complain about invasion of their privacy -
and on the other, they keep clicking themselves and uploading the photos on...
AD: It's just a fad - and like any other
wave, this will rage on and on and will fade out once the next big thing comes
up...
BC: That's the problem with technology… Look
what it has reduced all of us to - we're becoming so full of ourselves.
AD: Wait, don't tell me that selfies began
with Facebook and Instagram...
BC: Reports have it that over 90 million
images uploaded on Instagram each month are selfies, with the hashtag #me.
AD: Go back to the era of instant photo
boothsand polaroids…Remember how teenagers rushed to those tiny cubicles and
had their mugs shot?
BC: At least they didn't show it off to the
world...
AD: Pity they didn’t have social media back
then… And what about the era before that? Everyone wanted their portraits
hanging on the wall to show off that...
BC: That wasn't a selfie - it was an artist
painting them...
AD: Isn't that still indulgence? Portraits
came at a cost, but thanks to technology, taking a digital photo and uploading
it on a social networking site are both free of cost...
BC: But I still don't get it - how could a
word like 'selfie' be declared the word of the year?
AD: Look, Oxford Dictionary chose it simply
because of its popularity - they didn't come up with the word, for heaven's
sake. Besides, would you rather have 'twerk' as the word of the year?
Apparently, it was one of the words being considered for the title - and with
Miley Cyrus making it popular...
BC: I would rather have twerp chosen in the
place of twerk - and don't ask me what it means, please look it up...
AD: Talking of twerps, you haven't met the
more exciting cousin of selfie - called belfie - have you?
BC: Who's that?
AD: It's not a who, it's a what... People
apparently post pictures of their bottom and it's called a...
BC: I could do without such trivia, but it
makes me wonder what Narcissus would have done with a digital camera?
AD: He's the guy who fell in love with his
own reflection, right? What about him?
BC: Would he have clicked selfies of
himself, of his reflection or of himself looking at his reflection?
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