It's been quite the year for thought-provoking hashtags, trendy new dictionary words and everyday chit-chat, so it's time to look back at some of the best use of words in 2015. So of course, we looked to the generation who is currently creating them — teenagers.
Niam Vora, a grade 10 student at Martingrove Collegiate Institute in Toronto, says although he uses most of these words and phrases with his closest friends, they can also be heard around the whole school.
"For many students in high school, a lot of these words have just become a part of their daily speech," he says. "With social media, everything spreads like wildfire. Once one person uses it, it just continues to spread."
Vora adds he'd never use these words with adults because it would be "weird and awkward," but he says for some students, it's become a part of their vocabulary with anyone.
And it's not just words that are making up the language. This year, the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year was the laughing/crying emoji. Officially called the "face with tears of joy" pictograph, the emoji was the most used symbol on smartphones.
In August, the dictionary added new words like wine o’clock, manspreading, weak sauce and fast-casual.
Of course, popular words and phrases of 2014 like thirst, bae and "I can't even" continued to be relevant this year, and we only imagine will continue on into 2016.
We asked Canadian high school students to share their favourite words and phrases of the year. And although some of the words have been around for decades, they were popular this year for good reason. Let us know, did we miss your favourite (or one you didn't understand)?
