In some confused or desperate attempt at relevance in the face of Google, The Oxford Dictionary has named the Face With Tears of Joy emoji the Word Of The Year for 2015, following up 2014’s vape and 2013’s selfie. This is a very exciting time, and we suggest that you hold your loved ones and share the moment.
Sure to disappoint those of us with personal favourites (I would have voted for Pile Of Poo), the controversial decision comes with science to back it up showing that the emoji was a clear favourite among mobile users, making up 20% of all the emojis used in the UK in 2015 and also accounting for and 17% of those in the US, rising sharply from 4% and 9% respectively in 2014.
The figures came from The Oxford Dictionary partnering with mobile technology company Swiftkey to track down the most popular emoji, producing this graph to illustrate its meteoric rise to the top. I guess we should just ignore the fact that this means a private company hired another private company to track peoples texts.
The other words nominated for the prestigious award (all gracious in defeat) represents a wide spread of different considerations. From the political (Brexit: re UK leaving the EU) to the humanitarian (Refugee) to contemporary slang (On Fleek, Lumbersexual) and tech terms (Ad Blocker, Dark Web) it’s hard to imagine how the conversation over what got chosen went down, other than it occurred in posh British accents somewhere. Still considering how contentious many of the other choices were, maybe the emoji was an easy exit.
Anyway check out the other nominees here below and see what you think.
Feature Image: Getty Images
