Australia Invented The Word 'Selfie' So Can We Have Another Public Holiday Please?

Remember in 2013 when Oxford Dictionaries designated ‘selfie’ the word of the year?

That proud institution looks to be undone by a new revelation from the BBC, confirming that Oxford besmirched the Queen’s tongue by giving that honour to – gasp - a bit of slang from one of their lowly colonies: Australia.

According to the BBC, the first ever instance of the phrase ‘selfie’ appeared on an ABC online forum back in 2002, when national hero Nathan Hope posted a photo of his own cut lip.

If anyone still doubted the ‘Strayan-ness of ‘selfie’, the BBC elaborate on the manner in which the “-ie” suffix is a common Australian marker of informality. Exhibit A: The barbeque’s evolution into ‘barbie’.

So there you have it. We, as a united people on this glorious continent, are collectively responsible for the word ‘selfie’.

“Beneath our radiant Southern Cross, we’ll toil with hearts and hands…”

(Yes, that is the second verse of our proud national anthem. I’m just trying to weed out any British spies parsing the page for more words to steal.)