YESTERDAY EVENING, Oxford Dictionaries announced that its Word of the Year for 2015 was not in fact a word, but an emoji.
The cry laughing emoji.
It’s the first time ever an emoji has been named Word of the Year – the decision was explained on the Oxford Dictionaries blog:
The cry laughing emoji was chosen because it was the most used emoji globally in 2015. [Mobile technology business] SwiftKey identified that the cry laughing emoji made up 20% of all the emojis used in the UK in 2015, and 17% of those in the US.
Our beef isn’t with the fact that an emoji has been chosen as Word of the Year, though there has been outrage over it:
Our beef is, and always has been, with the vastly overused cry laughing emoji - AKA The Worst Emoji In Existence. Nothing is that funny. Nothing.
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There are so many other, more worthy options. How about the dancing lady emoji, the universal symbol of fun and frolics?
Or the praise hands emoji, the highest honour a meal, song, or film can receive?
And when will the beloved moon emoji get its dues? #JusticeForMoonEmoji
Oxford Dictionaries, we beg you to reconsider. Don’t give people any more reason to use and abuse the cry laughing emoji. Please.
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