Oxford Dictionary Announces The Word Of The Year 2015 And It’s Extremely Controversial

No. Just no. We’re big lovers of books and words here at Her HQ so we really didn’t deal very well with the news from Oxford Dictionaries this week. They announced their Word of the Year 2015 on Twitter on Monday night and we kid you not, it is the cry laughing emoji.

Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2015 is… ! https://t.co/LjJyxO8cvv #OxfordWOTY pic.twitter.com/Ced28y3I6F

— Oxford Dictionaries (@OxfordWords) November 16, 2015

Yes, really. “For the first time ever, the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is a pictograph,” it explained on the Oxford Dictionaries blog, adding that it was chosen as “the ‘word’ that best reflected the ethos, mood and preoccupations of 2015."

Replies to @OxfordWords naming "?" its word of the year: • I feel sick • RIP language • I weep for English • We are devolving back to grunts — Stan Carey (@StanCarey) November 17, 2015

@StanCarey @OxfordWords I'm still in two minds, but I do like the open-mindedness it shows about the flexibility of English.

— Kate Wiles (@katemond) November 17, 2015

“The cry laughing emoji was chosen because it was the most used emoji globally in 2015. “SwiftKey identified that the cry laughing emoji made up 20 per cent of all the emojis used in the UK in 2015, and 17 per cent of those in the US.” But… But… It’s not even a WORD!!! Here’s hoping it’s just some evil joke.