Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

The Oxford Dictionary's word of the year isn't a word... it's an emoji

And not just any emoji either. It’s the ‘crying laughing’ emoji…

sticker,375x360.u3 Redbubble Redbubble

YESTERDAY EVENING, Oxford Dictionaries announced that its Word of the Year for 2015 was not in fact a word, but an emoji. 

The crying 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.

There are so many other, more worthy options. How about the dancing lady emoji, the universal symbol of fun and frolics?

0S6L28a6_400x400 Twitter Twitter

Or the praise hands emoji, the highest honour a meal, song, or film can receive?

GWylEE2h_400x400 Twitter Twitter

And when will the beloved moon emoji get its dues? #JusticeForMoonEmoji

tumblr_mog29p903u1s8a280o1_400 Tumblr Tumblr

Oxford Dictionaries, we beg you to reconsider. Don’t give people any more reason to use and abuse the cry laughing emoji. Please.

Written by Valerie Loftus and posted on DailyEdge.ie

[image alt="" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2015/11/img2-thejournal-40.png" width="600" height="115" credit-url="" credit-source="" credit-via="" credit-via-url="" wp-id="wp-image-2451091" class="alignnone" /end]

Read: The cry laughing emoji needs to be stopped – here’s why

Read: 16 gas tweets that sum up Ireland during Storm Barney

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
14 Comments
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
    JournalTv
    News in 60 seconds