Salon.com > yolo

Drake does not own YOLO

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:15:00 +0000

Drake is not a man who backs down from a dispute. Just ask Chris Brown. So watch your backs, Walgreens and Macy's.

On Christmas, the Billboard-chart-dominating star took to Instagram to vent his spleen against retailers with an image of a groaning shelf -- unironically designated "beauty" -- full of caps emblazoned with the acronym YOLO. "Walgreens....you gotta either chill or cut the cheque," he wrote in Canadian, adding a "Macy's...same goes for you" warning under a photo of a YOLO-themed Charlie Brown and Snoopy shirt. Coming soon: Morgan Freeman getting huffy every time someone mentions a bucket list, and Robert Carlyle issuing an injunction against all forms of Full Montyism.

Oxford American Dictionary names “GIF” word of the year

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 23:38:00 +0000

Internet culture gets its proper due in journalism today, as "GIF" has beat out "YOLO" as the Oxford American Dictionary's word of the year. “GIF celebrated a lexical milestone in 2012, gaining traction as a verb, not just a noun,” said Katherine Martin, head of the U.S. dictionaries program at Oxford. “The GIF has evolved from a medium for pop-cultural memes into a tool with serious applications including research and journalism, and its lexical identity is transforming to keep pace.”

Martin is probably referring to a new form of political coverage, storytelling and event highlights -- none of which would have been possible without animated GIFs.