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Oxford Dictionaries' 2015 word of the year will never be used in a spelling bee. In fact, the Oxford University Press selected a entry better suited for Urban Dictionary: its first-ever pictograph. That's right—the word of 2015 is no word at all but rather the modern hieroglyphic officially known as the ‘Face with Tears of Joy’ emoji. You know the one—the yellow guy is laughing so hard he's crying, or perhaps emitting tears of pure happiness.
For the past several years, OD have skewed very young with its word-of-the-year choices. 2010's was "frequently asked questions," followed by "squeezed middle" in 2011, "GIF" in 2012, "selfie" in 2013 and "vape" in 2014, which is almost worse than picking an emoji.
Why this particular emoji? Oxford Dictionaries gathered data about the frequency with which various emojis are used around the world, and apparently tears of joy is the most universally popular.
Okay, it's true that those little faces have totally changed how we communicate, but an emoji being dubbed the word of the year?!? There's only one way to react: 😂😂😂