"Twerk" Has Every Right to Be a Word

"Twerk" Has Every Right to Be a Word

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Coincidentally after this year's MTV's Video Music Award performance by Miley Cyrus, the word twerk was added to the Oxford Online Dictionary. The main reaction around the internet was disgust; attributing the addition of the word to an esteemed dictionary as a loss of intelligence for our culture. My stance is the near polar opposite.

Before the word "twerk", what word currently in English would fully describe the action of this "dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance" so that our culture knew exactly what was meant? The closest word I can think of is "grinding" but this is different because twerking is more specific and doesn't necessarily need two people. Certainly, twerking has more meaning connotatively than just a new description of dance but that is not the point.

The point is we now have a word in English for something that has a mutually agreed meaning for the majority of our culture and we are able to discuss this (for better or worse). The point of a dictionary is to define these words, not to define what our culture should be. This wasn't always the case. However, we define our culture; no matter how upset the reflection of our culture makes us. The action came before the word and someone was smart enough to coin a word for it and get it popular. There are plenty of other concepts that are yet to be words in English.

If you are still truly upset about the addition, why not make a change to society? Define an action that is teeming with intelligence and then maybe people will actually want to live on this planet. Or maybe another word shouldn't mean all that much in comparison to our actions.