I’ve been reluctant to follow the herd on this, but ‘selfie’ is very convenient, and that usually wins me over. Even the masturbatory undertone is fitting, metaphorically. Ours is the Age of the Self, as any blogger proves.

‘Selfie’ wins title for word of the year for 2013 | ABQJournal Online

Perhaps surprising to some, the term was first recorded in Australia, not the U.S. or Britain, in 2002. An abashed and probably hungover participant in an Internet forum posted a self-portrait taken after a drunken accident on a set of stairs.

“I had a hole … right through my bottom lip,” the post said. “And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie.”

‘Selfie’ wins title for word of the year for 2013 | ABQJournal Online

Convenience swayed me to simplify “an e-mail” but as long as I live the Web and the Internet will be capitalized, much as the Universe should be.