Any guesses for the 2015 word of the year?
Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year pick may surprise you.
IN an unprecedented move, Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year for 2015 is not a word at all, but an emoji.
The ‘face with tears of joy’ topped the list of words for 2015, ahead of lumbersexual, Brexit and refugee, among others.
Through research with mobile technology business, SwiftKey, the wordsmiths at Oxford Dictionaries were able to determine the usage statistics of the most prevalent emojis around the world. The winning emoji was used the most in the last year.
Shorthand has become popular among all ages and emojis have redefined this quick texting era. With the backing of one of the world’s most esteemed linguistic organisations, it seems communicating through emojis is here to stay.
The shortlist of candidates for 2015’s word of the year were ad blocker, Brexit, Dark Web, lumbersexual, on fleek, refugee, sharing economy and they (singular). ‘Squeezed middle’ was the word of the year in 2011, ‘omnishambles’ in 2012, ‘selfie’ in 2013 and ‘vape’ was last year’s winner.
Click here to read more about why the emoji was chosen and how frequently it was used across the globe in the last year.
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