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Oxford Dictionary new verb ‘Vape’

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Oxford Dictionaries picks ‘vape’ as word of the year

by John Bowman Posted: November 18, 2014 9:12 AM Last Updated: November 18, 2014 9:27 AM

 Vapor pen invale vape

Put this in your pipe and smoke it: Oxford Dictionaries has declared “vape,” a verb meaning “to inhale and exhale the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device,” to be the 2014 word of the year.

It has been a big year for vaping. Lounges and bars where patrons can puff on their e-cigarettes are popping up all over (like Winnipegand Moncton). Oxford says that peak usage for the word “vape” was around April, when the U.K.’s first “vape café” opened and when New York official banned indoor vaping.

Last month, Vancouver became the third Canadian city to ban the use of e-cigarettes in public places, after York Region, Ont., and Red Deer, Alta.

Nova Scotia banned the use of e-cigarettes, water pipes, and vaporizers in public places earlier this month.

Elsewhere in Canada, vaping has fallen through the cracks of regulation, although cities such as Calgary and Hamilton, Ont., and provinces such as Quebec are considering bans. Ontario declared itself “not ready” to ban e-cigs.

frequency of the word VAPE

And although Air Canada policy forbids vaping on flights, a passenger wasn’t prevented from using an e-cigarette this spring.

(Not to brag or anything, but CBCNews.ca was writing about the safety of e-cigarettes way back in January 2012.)

Not everyone wants to ban e-cigarettes, though. Some doctors see e-cigarettes as potentially helpful for smokers looking to kick the habit.

(Wait, is that last one a joke or or not? I can’t even tell anymore.)

Oxford’s previous words of the year have included such social media buzzwords as “selfie,” “GIF” and “unfriend.”

Oxford also published a list of runners-up for 2014’s Word of the Year, and we’re pleased to see many trends we’ve written about over the past couple of years.

bae n. used as a term of endearment for one’s romantic partner.

budtender n. a person whose job is to serve customers in a cannabis dispensary or shop.

contactless adj. relating to or involving technologies that allow a smart card, mobile phone, etc. to contact wirelessly to an electronic reader, typically in order to make a payment.

indyref n. an abbreviation of “independence referendum,” in reference to the referendum on Scottish independence, held in Scotland on Sept. 18, 2014, in which voters were asked to answer yes or no to the question “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

normcore n. a trend in which ordinary, unfashionable clothing is worn as a deliberate fashion statement.

slacktivism n. informal actions performed via the internet in support of a political or social cause but regarded as requiring little time or involvement, e.g. signing an online petition or joining a campaign group on a social media website; a blend of slacker and activism.

Article source CBC

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