What is Twerking? Oxford Dictionary Adds New Verb In Wake Of Miley Cyrus Performance
We are officially in the golden age of twerking.
Today, Oxford Dictionaries announced that the infamous booty-shaking dance technique will be added to its future publications under: "Twerk, verb." The official definition reads: "dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance."
How is it used in a sentence? "just wait till they catch their daughters twerking to this song," and "twerk it girl, work it girl," the entry reads.
Twerking superstar Miley Cyrus isn't included in the definition, but she has been all over the news lately for her provocative VMA performance that, yes, involved a high amount of twerking. For her performance of 'We Can't Stop,' Cyrus danced around in a grey onsie which she later stripped off to display a nude-colored latex bra.
Cyrus twerked up and down the stage and she even twerked on R&B singer Robin Thicke during their rendition of 'Blurred Lines.' The 20-year-old pop star has garnered criticism for her performance from her 'Hannah Montana' mom Brooke Shields, as well as real moms across America.
"I was Hannah Montana's mother!" Shields told TODAY's Will Geist. "Where did I go wrong?"
The 48-year-old actress said that Cyrus's act was desparate and that she was trying to separate herself from her Disney persona.
"You could see her trying so hard to go against that," she said. "She can sing beautifully, and I feel like if she gets that lead, rather than let her bottom lead...[She's] trying so, so hard."
However, not everyone is criticizing Cyrus's twerktastic behavior. Justin Timberlake, who also gave a memorable performance with *NSYNC at the VMAs, told New York radio station Hot 97 host Angie Martinez that people need to take it easy on Cyrus.
"It's the VMAs. You know what I mean, like, it's not the Grammys," Timberlake said. "We're talking about Madonna in a wedding dress humping the stage, we're talking about Britney Spears doing a striptease. This cycle is not uncommon."
Timberlake later added that if something like Cyrus's performance didn't occur at the VMAs, it would've been boring.
Is Cyrus to thank for the inclusion of twerking as an official dictionary term? According to Oxford Dictionaries, she's not. The word originated in the 1990s as a probable alteration of the word work, the entry reads.
According to E! News, other recent additions to Oxford Dictionaries include emojis, selfies, food babies, jorts, fauxhawk. Future additions include squee, unlike and and vom.