10 words you didn't know were invented this decade

Language is an ever changing and fluid concept. New grammar rules are made and relaxed all of the time, and new words are created as our world changes. Can you imagine still using "thee" and "thou" in everyday conversation? Hard and fast grammar rules, like not ending sentences with prepositions, are becoming less stringent — something regular folks are happy about. Even dictionaries release lists of new words every year, with words that are both widely accepted and more controversial.

We’ve rounded up 10 words that were invented in this decade. While these words might be familiar to you now, in 2110 they might be as archaic as the term goldbrick (which, by the way, in 1910 meant a lazy person who doesn’t do her fair share of work).

Brogrammer

A portmanteau of “bro” and “programmer,” this word is meant to convey the opposite of the stereotypical, shy and nerdy programmer. Brogrammers are social, very interested in keeping up their image and will never turn down a high five.

Culturomics

This describes the study of human behavior and cultural trends through the use of data. Thanks to a huge portion of daily life being digitized online, researchers can mine the data to pinpoint cultural changes through word usage.

Deepfake

This worrying mashup of the words “deep” and “fake” describes superimposing images using a generative adversarial network (GAN) that can make it look like someone is doing or saying something that they never did. Major websites are coming together to root out and block deepfake content.

Microadventure

Don’t have time for a full-on vacation adventure to Machu Picchu? Then you might be able to satisfy the urge to explore with a microadventure. Coined in an increasingly busy time where people barely stop to have fun, a microadventure is a way to spend a short time in a perspective-shifting way, like pitching a tent in the backyard or taking a late night stroll by a nearby river.

Phubbing

Ever pretended not to notice that person from high school standing on the same train platform by not looking up from your phone? Then you’ve participated in phubbing, or using your phone to snub someone and avoid social contact.

Refudiate

Thanks to Sarah Palin’s rise in celebrity in the early 2000s, we now have the word refudiate. This non-word was coined the word of the year in 2010 after Palin tweeted asking Muslims “to pls refudiate support for the mosque.” She seemingly combined refute and repudiate, and the New Oxford American Dictionary said that refudiate now stands on its own as a word since neither of the original words conveyed what she meant.

Thanksgivukkah

With the rare alignment of the Gregorian and Hebrew calendars, a day of Hanukkah and American Thanksgiving sometimes collides. Therefore, a name was needed for this double holiday. Similar themes of gathering for family time and being thankful made Thanksgivukkah a fit so natural that even President Barack Obama recognized the holiday in 2013, making it official.

Uberisation

This term comes from the ride-sharing service Uber, and it describes highly efficient and economical services that use apps or computers to bypass traditional middlemen and put customers directly in touch with service providers.

Woke

To be woke is to be aware of social justice issues. It comes from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and gained traction around the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014.

Xennials

Too young to be Gen X but still pretty plugged in to the millennial mindset, xennials are a microgeneration of people born in the late 1970s to early 1980s. Generally xennials grew up before the internet but readily adopted it as quickly as their younger cohorts.