Oprah Immortalized: ‘Aha Moment’ Officially Added To Merriam-Webster

It’s not as though media mogul and noted Snuggie advocate Oprah Winfrey needed any more immortalization. But we’re happy to celebrate the Queen of Talk’s latest addition in the Merriam-Webster dictionary anyway. That’s right, an Oprah Term is going in the dictionary.

For the initiated, Merriam-Webster adds new words to its definitive dictionary every year. It’s an occasion as momentous as the National Spelling Bee (i.e., intensely exciting to a very specific pocket of people). A decade ago, the dictionary offered credibility to the word “bootylicious,” including it in the Merriam-Webster tome, so you know those word-counting folks aren’t kidding around.

And this year, Oprah’s own turn of phrase, “aha moment,” made the cut.

The official definition:

A moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension.

Merriam-Webster claims the first-known instance of “aha moment” was in 1939 — but everyone knows the term belongs to Oprah. Don’t take this away from her.

Before you get too excited, it’s important to note Merriam-Webster also added “man cave” and “sexting” to the dictionary this year, which means we, as a society, are all basically doomed.

[via CBS]

TAGS: aha moment | oprah

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