GIF is the Word ... Is the Word ... Is the Word

GIF, as a verb, is Oxford Dictionaries US Word of the Year for 2012. It's "omnishambles" for the UK. What should be Lexington's Word of the Year?

  When it comes to words, the sincerest form of flattery may be when a noun transcends its part of speech and becomes a verb. And such was the case with this year’s Oxford Dictionaries US Word of the Year for 2012. GIF, as a verb, claimed the title this year. The definition, from Oxford: GIF verb to create a GIF file of (an image or video sequence, especially relating to an event): he GIFed the highlights of the debate. For the uninitiated, while GIFs exploded onto the mainstream this year, their origin dates back to the 1980s, when the GIF was born as an acronym short for graphics interchange format. GIFs are compressed image files, which can move as an animation but without sound. From the Oxford Dictionaries blog: The GIF, a compressed …

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