The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) on Thursday, June 25, added ' twerk', 'carnap', 'FLOTUS' and scores of other new words, including many introduced from Asia and from online slangs, to its latest edition.
OED Editor, Danica Salazar, in London, said that the word twerk, a dance popularised by music stars and Internet memes, actually dated back about 200 years as a combination of twist and jerk first spelled as “twirk.’’
He said the use of twerk to describe a type of dance, which emphasises the performer’s posterior, has its roots in the early 1990s in the New Orleans “bounce” music scene. Salazar said the word itself seems to originate from more than 170 years before that.
Joining twerk in the updated online OED is the acronym FLOTUS, or First Lady of the U.S. “A term that the First Lady, Michelle Obama, felt obliged to explain to London schoolgirls last week when she mentioned her FLOTUS Twitter handle,” he said.
The acronym for President of the U.S is POTUS.