You might assume that words like 'cybersex', 'twentysomething' and 'intersectionality', which are commonplace in many of our lexicons these days, must have only been coined in the last few years. They continue to capture the zeitgeist and just sound modern and relevant.
But what if we were to tell you that these words were first added to the dictionary in 1991, 1990 and 1989, respectively? That's according to Merriam-Webster dictionary's fascinating and recently launched "Time Traveler" tool, which allows you to find out which words first came into use in the year you were born.
But be warned, it's quite the time-waster. Refinery29's UK office spent most of our lunchtime poring over it and we were shocked to learn that 'emoji' was added to the dictionary a decade ago! We didn't remember using the eyeroll face on our Tamagotchis back in 1997 – but then we did some digging and found out emoji first appeared in Japan in the '90s. Our minds were blown.
And that wasn't the only titbit we gleaned from the tool. 'Goji berries' aren't just a product of our culture's #wellness obsession – they were a thing as far back as 2002. As was 'vlog' – a whole three years before YouTube was invented.
As you can tell, it's quite easy to get carried away using the tool, but at least it's a relatively intellectual way to waste time. Find out which words were born the same year as you here.