In the early days of the Internet, GIFs were associated with the worst parts of the Internet. You probably remember dancing hearts on email forwards or eye-searing bedazzlements to MySpace pages.
These days, GIFs have morphed into the Internet’s universal language, used to express emotions that online commenters feel mere words can’t. Essentially, GIFS are those thousand words that pictures are always supposed to signify.
Now Oxford Dictionaries has named “GIF” its U.S. Word of the Year. So deserving. Congratulations, GIF. You’ve come a long way.
