Friday, August 28, 2015

Listen Up, Marks: Kayfabe Has Been Added to the Dictionary

Not added: "Good brother"
Photo via Wikipedia
"Kayfabe" is a word that has been used by wrestling fans for a couple of decades now, and the term has been in use by people in the business for even longer. However, it has never been recognized as an actual English word until now. The Oxford Dictionary adds several words to its pages each year based on popular culture, and this year's crop includes the word kayfabe in its graduating class. The official definition can be found after the jump:

(In professional wrestling) the fact or convention of presenting staged performances as genuine or authentic:
The addition may not seem like a big deal, but the fact that one of the most recognizable dictionaries in the world has defined an essential pro wrestling term feels like a huge step in the acceptance of the art in regular society. If you can look up a wrestling term in the dictionary, then maybe it won't be long before the impact of wrestling on popular society during its various boom periods will be taught in schools. Or maybe I'm getting ahead of myself and overrating a cool little nugget. I don't know.