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The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2015 Is an Emoji (oxforddictionaries.com)

AmiMoJo writes: For the first time ever, the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is a pictograph (that Slashdot is unable to reproduce), officially called the 'Face with Tears of Joy' emoji (U+1F602). Oxford University Press have partnered with SwiftKey to explore frequency and usage statistics for some of the most popular emoji across the world. Emoji is a Japanese word (pronounced "eh-mo-jee"), originating from Japanese mobile service providers who all had their own unique set before they were standardized in Unicode. Other notable words this year include "ad blocker," "Brexit" (British exit from the EU), lumbersexual and "they (singular)" (pronoun to refer to a person of unspecified sex).

30 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Oxford gets it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    The modern app appers at Oxford know that only apps can app apps, which is why they're apping Emoji apps so we can app other apps using Emojis!

    Apps!

  2. Pathetic. by pla · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Aaand, the OED just jumped the shark. Language may evolve, but at some point we need to draw the line - A pictogram does not count as a "word". Why not include Wood's American Gothic? Michaelangelo's statue of David (Or maybe they consider that more appropriate for the Italian dictionary?).

    / Lumbersexual. Nice knowin' ya, OED.

    1. Re:Pathetic. by PvtVoid · · Score: 2

      A pictogram does not count as a "word". .

      Tell that to the Chinese. Or the ancient Egyptians. Or the Mayans.

    2. Re:Pathetic. by jbmartin6 · · Score: 5, Informative

      I would be glad to, but they generally don't use English which is what the E in OED stands for

      --
      This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
    3. Re:Pathetic. by PvtVoid · · Score: 3, Funny

      I would be glad to, but they generally don't use English which is what the E in OED stands for

      Use emoji. They'll get the gist of it.

  3. Let's just throw out all the rules of English then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    "They" as a singular pronoun? What the fuck? We already have a gender-neutral singular pronoun, "it." Oh, but you want to use a pronoun to refer to a person on an unknown gender? We have one for that too, it's "he." No reason to ignore the rules of grammar just because it hurts your feelings. Or, to put it in new-speak, hurts your SJW feels.

  4. Thumbs down by kaatochacha · · Score: 3, Insightful

    sad face.

  5. Cue the Luddites by PvtVoid · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Before the inevitable 60 posts bemoaning the fall of civilization, it's probably worth noting that logographic scripts are very common in the world, and have been used throughout history. What could be more revolutionary, and interesting, in the 21st century to see logographic elements making inroads into languages with alphabetic scripts? Kudos to Oxford!

    1. Re:Cue the Luddites by VorpalRodent · · Score: 2

      This is a remarkably thoughtful post. Thanks for the reading material on these scripts.

      However...I still have to disagree with Oxford and will assert my right to resort to ad hominem attacks against them and their editors.

      What I give them kudos for is that they considered a pronoun that we've had forever to be a notable word (instead of attempting to validate the dumb new made-up pronouns). I have mixed feelings about all of this crap. Our language is a living language, and as such is evolving. At the same time, get off my lawn and stop making up stupid words and abbreviating things that there is already a proper way to say. Get off my lawn!

      --
      Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
    2. Re:Cue the Luddites by geekmux · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Before the inevitable 60 posts bemoaning the fall of civilization, it's probably worth noting that logographic scripts are very common in the world, and have been used throughout history. What could be more revolutionary, and interesting, in the 21st century to see logographic elements making inroads into languages with alphabetic scripts? Kudos to Oxford!

      It's probably worth noting that at one point the Ford Motor company only made one car (The Model T), and while the concept of automobiles and transportation has endured throughout history, the concept of one way to do it has long died, along with the kitsch of a crank-start car (a.k.a. using pictures to communicate)

      If Ford were to start selling one kind of car again regardless of where roads may take us today, that's hardly room for praise. At some point a person with half a brain is going to ask the all-important what-the-fuck-were-you-thinking question that clearly wasn't asked at Oxford when adopting a picture as a word.

      The "inroads" that brought logographic scripts into existence were born from ignorance, and there's a reason they have died off throughout history. We have words for that shit now.

    3. Re:Cue the Luddites by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      If Ford were to start selling one kind of car again regardless of where roads may take us today, that's hardly room for praise.

      I dunno... if the past is any indicator, people might go crazy with joy if Ford decided to make it white, remove all but one door, round off all the edges and triple the price.

    4. Re:Cue the Luddites by PvtVoid · · Score: 2

      I dunno... if the past is any indicator, people might go crazy with joy if Ford decided to make it white, remove all but one door, round off all the edges and triple the price.

      That would be the upcoming Apple ICar.

  6. Re:F : A - I ( L by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually, the OED is still a respectable scholarly work. This is just an offshoot that picks interesting words every year as a kind of PR stunt, and to show that they are actively studying language rather than just collecting words.

    Lumbersexual is a new one to me. Apparently it's someone who grooms and dresses to appear like a person who spends a lot of time outdoors (like a lumberjack I guess).

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  7. Bad pun... by MrKrillls · · Score: 2

    There are no words for this.

    Seriously. This is nuts.

    --
    Don't step on the baby.
  8. Singular "they" by spaceyhackerlady · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm surprised singular "they" has only just now made it. I've heard it (and used it myself) since the 1980s.

    Times change. Language changes.

    ...laura

    1. Re:Singular "they" by gstoddart · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No, but unfortunately it's no longer wrong.

      It has never been wrong. The use of "they" like that isn't a new construct, was never wrong.

      In fact, it's been correct for a very long time.

      But you're just making a fool of yourself when you go around telling users of singular they that theyâ(TM)re wrong, because theyâ(TM)re not.

      That you don't know it was already correct is your damned problem.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:Singular "they" by gstoddart · · Score: 2

      True, but that's always been an incorrect use of "they". The correct pronoun would be "he", "she", or "he or she" (pick whichever one you want).

      My short answer to you is: that is utter bullshit.

      You got some facts to back that up? Or just your own mistaken belief?

      English is not a language in which everything has a gender. Claiming "he" and "she" are the only valid singular pronouns is wrong.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:Singular "they" by spaceyhackerlady · · Score: 2

      It's because this year transgender issues have really come into the public conciousness, and I've seen a number of mainstream media outlets publishing articles on the language surrounding them. The general public is becoming more aware and learning how to speak about transgender people and issues without accidentally being offensive.

      I don't view this as a transgender issue. I view it as a needed word. At one time "he" was accepted as a generic third-person singular pronoun, but since few people born since about 1920 accept it as such, we needed a new word. Singular "they" fills that need.

      ...laura

  9. and so my transition began. by nimbius · · Score: 3, Funny

    Until reading this article Id been a chipper young admin, fast at the keyboard with a gentle hand to users but once I'd gazed upon this fact, this indelible pockmark upon our society in this foul year of our lord 2015, My hair burst a radiant white and a shock of that same hue flew throught the beard I never before had. Hair filled my nostrils and a pocket protector flew furiously into my button up homage to the cartesian plane. small stuffed tux's and beasties fell from the heavens unto my cubicle and a smattering of old userfriendly comics printed upon delicate tractor paper adhered themselves to the walls. my mundane gaze turned slowly into a furious scowl and I knew what must be done. I furiously cranked out a script to sync microsoft ldap parameters to my desktop for my user, configured NIS, and reverted every account in the organization to csh. I then forwarded my phone to the switchboad and the switchboard to a cream cheese factory in wisconsin. Gathering my briefcase now filled with LISA digests and a calculator from the cold war I made my way to the pub for the day and silently muttered

    "Kids....Kids on my lawn..."

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  10. Re:Hate emojis ... by operagost · · Score: 2

    because I really am not interested in seeing "champagne champagne baboons-"

    BUTTOCKS

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  11. Re:It's A Dark Day For Oxford by MitchDev · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dark day for intelligence when these stupid emojis are given "word" status...

    Now maybe thousand-word status since a picture is supposedly worth a thousand words...

  12. Re:Hate emojis ... by devman · · Score: 2

    This is a unicode code point, 1F602 specifically. Your user-agent doesn't download the resource, it is like any other character and rendered with your local font assuming it has a glyph for this code point.

  13. Re:Hate emojis ... by Dragonslicer · · Score: 3, Informative

    The vast majority of this crap is just enabling third parties to track your fucking email and texts as everyone has to download the stupid things.

    I thought the whole point of the new "emoji" stuff was that they're now standard Unicode characters, so the images are part of the normal fonts on your system. If your computer has to download the image every time someone puts one in a text message, somebody is Doing It Wrong, and it isn't the person sending you the text message.

  14. Re:F : A - I ( L by bigfinger76 · · Score: 3, Funny

    They're called rednecks.

  15. He's a lumberjack and he's OK by rossdee · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Lumbersexual is a new one to me. Apparently it's someone who grooms and dresses to appear like a person who spends a lot of time outdoors (like a lumberjack I guess)."

    Put on womens clothing and hang around in bars?

  16. Re:F : A - I ( L by drjoe1e6 · · Score: 2

    Lumbersexual is a new one to me. Apparently it's someone who grooms and dresses to appear like a person who spends a lot of time outdoors (like a lumberjack I guess)

    And they're okay.

    --
    Lose = not win ...... Loose = not tight
  17. Re:Let's just throw out all the rules of English t by noldrin · · Score: 3, Informative

    The use of "they" as a singular pronounce dates back to the 15th century and is a generally understood convention, one which is receiving increased use due to increased need to refer to people in a way which is dignified.

  18. Re:I have a word for the person... by Raseri · · Score: 2

    Nobody has defined a picture as a word. They've said "the word which denotes a picture used as a word" is a word.

    From TFS:

    the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is a pictograph

    Better luck next time.

    --
    Writhe your naked ass to the mindless groove.
  19. Re:It's A Dark Day For Oxford by Krishnoid · · Score: 2

    And a dark day when a text-only technology website is behind the curve for, you know, text.

  20. Re:F : A - I ( L by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 2

    Lumbersexual is a new one to me. Apparently it's someone who grooms and dresses to appear like a person who spends a lot of time outdoors (like a lumberjack I guess).

    they cut down trees, they wear high heels suspenders and a bra.

    --
    ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.