Dear Concordia News Boss, So Oxford, that venerable etymological tastemaker, has chosen an emoji as 2015’s word of the year ("Oxford Dictionaries selects 'tears of joy' emoji as 'word' of the year").

Whether you enjoy adding the fun and colourful icons to your words or not, emojis have become an integral part of mobile messaging. In honour of World Emoji Day, here are 17 facts about emojis: 1.

An emoji is Oxford Dictionaries word of the year and that just solidified the lack of faith I have in the future of expression through words — Pfizer Crane (@GideonSlaygo) November 17, 2015 ...

But while that emoji is top "word" - following in the footsteps of "vape", "selfie" and "omnishambles" - there are no plans to include the icons themselves in any Oxford dictionary.