A quick glance around the ol’ Google will show that “smiling pile of poop” is easily the most popular emoji. Or so one would think. The word nerds at the Global Language Monitor “analyzed and catalogued the latest trends in word usage and word choices and their impact on the various aspects of culture” in 2014, and came up with a list of the year’s most popular words, topped by a word that isn’t even a word. It’s an emoji, but NOT the poop emoji.
If only there was a not-word to describe what the world’s coming to? Oh yeah.
The Emoji ideograph for Heart (and Love) is the Top Word for 2014 according to the 15th Annual survey of the English language by the the Global Language Monitor. The Heart and Love emoji, emoticon, and variations thereof appear billions of times a day around the world…This is the first time an ideograph has captured Word of the Year honors. (Via)
And it won’t be the last, once the taco emoji is introduced. Here’s the rest of the top 10:
1. The ♥ emoji
2. Hashtag
3. Vape
4. Blood Moon
5. Nano
6. Photobomb
7. Caliphate
8. (White) privilege
9. Bae
10. Bashtag (Via)
It’s a stunning rebound for “white privilege,” which hasn’t been this popular since 1865.