• I don’t really buy it •
[2 MIN READ]
A few weeks ago, I used the word “usie” to reference a group selfie but was suspicious about the source that I found. Frankly, I’d never heard the word before I wrote that Cerebrun. My skepticism was justified.
I orginally found “usie” by doing a Google search for “group selfie.” Checking out Google’s “People also ask” answer to “What is a group selfie called?” I landed on a Business Insider article from 2014 as the “authoritative” source. 2014? Ten years old is mighty old on the internet.
A more recent search on usie returned a couple of other words—“groufie” and “wefie”—which I’d also never heard before. The question is whether any of the 3 are legit if no one ever uses them. A simple Google search strategy is to search each word individually and click on the News tab to determine relevance. (1) Usie: Out of the first 10 results, 5 are surnames (Who knew?), 4 are abbreviations, and 1 is that BI article again. (2) Groufie: Out of the first 10 results (all relevant), 3 are from 2024, 4 are from 2023, 1 is from 2021 (about an Indian movie of that name), and 2 are from the the 20-teens about the word as an alternative to selfie. It also turns out Huawei trademarked the word for a line of cellphones and one of its picture-taking apps. (3) Wefie: Out of 10 results 4 are from 2024, 3 are from the earlier 20-twenties, and 3 are from the 20-teens. It also turns out Samsung trademarked that word for a line of digital cameras and accessories. So much for any of those 3 having overwhelming public usage.
And how about plain old “group selfie”? Out of 10 results, 3 are from 2024, 3 are from 2023, 2 are from the earlier 20-twenties, and 2 are from the 20-teens. Those numbers across time aren’t compelling, either. I’d want to see more like 10:10 to be really convinced.
Still, I guess I’m casting my vote: group selfie.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2024’07’24’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only with added caption.
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