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Oxford English Dictionary Adds “Stan” Thanks To Eminem

5/14/05-DETROIT: Rap artist Eminem speaks to the crowd about his financial past and present at the 1st Financial Hip Hop Summit May 14, 2005 in Detroit, Michigan. The summit, which brought together Russell Simmons, Eminem, Lil John, The Eastside Boyz, Reverend Run, D12, Fantasia, Stat Quo, Obie Trice, Master O, Common, and MC Search, was designed to raise awareness of young adults 18-35 about the importance of financial empowerment. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

|Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Stan has long been vernacular for someone that's an obsessive fan of something -- example: "Oh, you're a Carly Rae Jepsen stan? Us too!" -- and now it's finally been recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary as a real word, which presumably means that, eventually, a red squiggly line won't show up underneath it when you write it out on your preferred word processing program..... Speaking of the early '00s, we have Eminem to thank for popularity of the term because of his Marshall Mathers LP track "Stan," which was written from the perspective of an obsessive Eminem fan. Imagine being that! Thanks, Em.

The official definition of the word, which is both a noun and a verb, is : "An overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity" or "Be an overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity."

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