【lorde and eroticism】

There's a difference between throwing shade and lorde and eroticismmaking an important point.

When Dictionary.com tweeted out a definition of the word "self-made" it was accused of the former. But, was it really throwing shade, or was this simply a distinction that needed to be made?

On Wednesday, Kylie Jenner's first Forbescover was unveiled. "At 21, she's set to be the youngest-ever self-made billionaire," reads the cover. "Welcome to the era of extreme fame leverage."

In the piece, Forbesdiscusses how Jenner — a member of the Kardashian-Jenner family — built a "900 million fortune in less than 3 years."

Not long after, Dictionary.com quote-tweeted Forbes alongside a definition of the word "self-made."

"Self-made means having succeeded in life unaided," reads the definition.

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People on Twitter were quick to call shade. But, was Dictionary.com really throwing shade at Jenner?

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Dictionary.com pointed out that searches of the word "self-made" were up by 18,628 percent on dictionary.com on Wednesday, suggesting curiosity might have been aroused about the word's true meaning.

Writer Roxane Gay stated that it wasn't actually shade to point out that Jenner "isn't self-made."

"She grew up in a wealthy, famous family," wrote Gay. "Her success is commendable but it comes by virtue of her privilege."

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"Words have meanings and it behooves a dictionary to remind us of that," she added.

Gay has a very good point. What are dictionaries for, if not to inform us of words' correct meaning?

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