In a move that's sure to irritate plenty of grammar snobs and old people in general, the word YOLO has been officially added to the Oxford Dictionary's online database, along with more than 40 other words and phrases that millenials use.
Though the phrase "you only live once" has been part of the English language for a long time, Canadian rapper Drake popularized its abbreviated form "YOLO" in his 2011 song "The Motto" featuring Lil Wayne, with its chorus, "Now she want a photo, you already know, though/You only live once: that's the motto, n***a, YOLO." To be honest, I'm surprised it took so long, since "YOLO" actually seems pretty dated already.
"YOLO" isn't the only newly added word with a hip-hop origin, though. Oxford also added the word "cray" (it means "crazy," gramps), which can be traced back to the chorus of Jay Z and Kanye West's 2011 single "N***as In Paris," which goes "Ball so hard motherf***ers wanna fine me/That s**t cray." If you ask me, they should have added the word "ball" instead of "cray," since I'm not entirely sure what it means in this context.
Other notable entries this year include "hot mess," "throw shade," "side boob," "amazeballs," and a word I know all too well from working on the Internet, "clickbait."
Time points out that the Oxford Dictionary is not the same thing as the Oxford English Dictionary, which is the more "serious and intellectual" reference book, requiring words "to have much more historical, significant impact before adding them."
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