26/11/2021 'NFT' is Collins Dictionary's Word of the Year for 2021, beating out 'crypto' and 'cheugy'

"NFT," the abbreviation of "non-fungible token," has been namedWord of the Yearby dictionary publisherCollins, beating "crypto" and "cheugy" to the top spot.
An NFT is "a unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain, that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectible," according to a blog post from Collins, published Wednesday.
Acting like virtual signatures, NFTs prove the authenticity of an artwork as the blockchain serves as incorruptible proof of ownership, meaning that "original" artworks and their owners can always be identified via the blockchain, even if an image or video is widely replicated.
They also provide scarcity, and as a result thedigital art markethas been booming.
In March, a digital artwork named "Everydays: The First 5000 days"sold for $69.3 millionvia Christie's, making its creator, graphic designer Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, one of the art market's most valuable living artists.
The idea of a digital revolution is also captured in another of the dictionary's candidates for Word of the Year: "crypto," short for "cryptocurrency," digital money that is challenging traditional forms of money, according to Collins.
It also named "metaverse" in its blog post, following Facebook's announcement that it would change its corporate name to Meta.
Other selected words reflect the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with "double-vaxxed" and "hybrid working" making the shortlist.
"Climate anxiety" reflects growing concern about the damage humans are doing to the planet, while "neopronoun" is a way of referring to a person without using their name or traditional markers of gender, such as "he" and "she." Collins gives "xe," "ze" and "ve" as examples of neopronouns.
Rounding out the shortlist are "Regencycore," which is defined as a fashion aesthetic inspired by the Georgian-era clothing seen in the Netflix show "Bridgerton," and "cheugy," which is used to say that something is out of date or uncool.
In 2020, Collins named "lockdown" its Word of the Year, for obvious reasons, and, earlier this month, Oxford Languages made "vax" its pick for 2021.
Defined as "a colloquialism meaning either vaccine or vaccination as a noun and vaccinate as a verb," vax was relatively rare until this year, the company, which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary, said.
In September, vax appeared more than 72 times more frequently than the year before, said Oxford Languages, which analyzes news content to track changes in the English language.
Arts

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/nft-word-of-the-year-collins-scli-intl-gbr/index.html

Interesting NFTs
The Moth Catcher
In this psychologically bed-headed portrait, a creature sets in a trance; his eyes devolved and vestigal, his third eye open but hardened and in a form resembling a Sharingan. The imagery therefore expresses an awareness existing in corporeal introspection. The creature’s mind sprouts, on the left side, an emerging face, grinning. To the right side of the head, red tentacles and fingers intertwine–a collaboration of invertebrate and vertebrate consciousness cooperatively handling paint brushes of the sort used to build an oil painting. The neck and throat bristle with random thorns, as from a rose or the upper portions of a beak sprouting from its flesh. The neck itself disassociates into layers of membranous material, terminating upon an abstracted base of convoluted forms composing its body. The nose is virtually non existent, more a sinus reiterative of the shape of the third eye. Set against the exposed teeth peering out of thick, meaty cheeks, a skeleton-like impression results. That impression sets behind a visceral set of lips and tongue, which is the creature’s prime seat of awareness. Sensual, organic, the tongue organ hangs, meaty, and with consciousness of a sea cucumber. It illuminates at the tip, drawing the attraction of a nearby moth–with mystery of purpose.
Magnetic Forces v3
"El imán humilla al hierro. Es una teoría sobre el amor. Magnets humiliate iron. It's a theory about love." --Marco Denevi
#90297
By OthersideDeployer
Bubbles | Kitty 2687!
Good morning! I'm Bubbles | Kitty 2687!. I've never told anyone this, but I once licked a dog. When no one's home, I invite my pals over and we listen to Ace of Base. This will be an amewsing friendship.
The King
Part of a series of three artworks entitled "The Rulers". Inspired by the rulers of the animal kingdom, african mandalas & diamonds. A very complex digital illustration, each lion consists of hundreds of custom diamond shapes. Each background is an intricate custom mandala that compliments the lions facial features.