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Take Two

Oxford's Word of the Year isn't actually a word

The laugh til you cry emoji
The laugh til you cry emoji

Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.

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Oxford's Word of the Year isn't actually a word

Each year the Oxford Dictionary crowns a word of the year, a term selected to both reflect the culture of the recent past and look ahead toward the future.

Previous entries include vape, podcast, locavore, unfriend and selfie. This week, they've announced the word for 2015. But — it's not a word. Instead, it's the popular emoji of a smiley face with tears of joy.

Sociolinguist Tyler Schnoebelen, one of the leading researchers on emoji, joined the show to explain more.