A sure sign of the impending apocalypse, the Oxford English Dictionary now contains the word YouTuber. According to the OED, YouTuber is a noun derived from a “proper name, combined with an English element.” Its etymology is traced to a video-sharing website launched in 2005. All this is well and good. But the definition is, um, just plain wrong.
From the OED:
A frequent user of the video-sharing website YouTube, especially someone who produces and appears in videos on the site.
As any real YouTuber will tell you, frequenting the video platform does not a true “YouTuber” make. A YouTuber is a content creator, not just a content consumer. There is no subcategory of YouTuber “especially” for someone who “produces and appears in videos.” Either you make videos (YouTuber) or you don’t (not a YouTuber). YouTubers enjoy sharing their French-press-coffee-filled morning routines, filming themselves reacting to things, mocking the shit [insert niche group here] say, and pairing incredibly dramatic thumbnail images with even more dramatic headlines. Watching “David After Dentist” and “You Forgot Blueberries” six dozen times a day doesn’t make you a YouTuber. It just makes you a human.
