I would be surprised if you told you me you hadn’t yet heard about Miley Cyrus’s shocking performance at the 2013 MTV VMA’s last week – she’s been a pretty hot topic. Complete with flesh-colored latex lingerie, Miley has been making headlines – and not just because of her costume. The booty-thrusting dance moves she shook all over the stage is known as twerking – and it’s now become a phenomenon. So much so that Oxford Dictionaries announced: “Twerk, verb.” will appear in future publications of the dictionary.
Twerking, Selfie Added to the Oxford Dictionary
The verb is defined as “[dancing] to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.”
According to Oxford Dictionaries, the term originated in the 90’s and is most likely “an alteration of work, because that word has a history of being used in similar ways, with dancers being encouraged to ‘work it.'” Some other recent additions include fauxhawk and selfies – can you believe it?
