The selection of emoji by Oxford Dictionaries as its Word of the Year recognises the huge increase in the use of these digital pictograms in electronic communication. While 2015 may have witnessed their proliferation, emoji are not new. They were originally developed in Japan in the 1990s for use by teenagers on their pagers; the word emoji derives from the Japanese e 'picture' + moji 'character, letter'.
The post Emojis and ambiguity in the digital medium appeared first on OUPblog.
Smiling face? Grimacing face? Speak-No-Evil Monkey? With the announcement of emoji as the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year, we asked a number of scholars for their thoughts on this new word and emerging linguistic phenomenon.
The post Scholarly reflections on ’emoji’ appeared first on OUPblog.
As 2015 draws to a close, itβs time to look back and see which words have been significant throughout the past twelve months, and to announce the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year. Without further ado, we can reveal that the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2015 isβ¦
The post The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is⦠emoji appeared first on OUPblog.
Emoji? What are they?
βEmojiβ is a japanese term meaning βpicture character.β Itβs a standard for showing smileys and other little symbols inside text. But unlike traditional smileys that are made up of a sequence of letters like :)
, every emoji has its own letter.
π· πΉ πΊ π» πΌ
Emoji blossomed on smartphones, where quickly picking out an emoji is often faster than typing out a long sentence.
Today weβre rolling out hundreds and hundreds of emoji across WordPress.com β 872 to be exact.
Do they look familiar? Thatβs because Twitter has graciously decided to open-source their entire set, allowing anyone to use them. Weβre already busy preparing to add these to Jetpack, so WordPress.org users can join in the fun too.
Before today, emoji you inserted into your posts on the go wouldnβt always show properly for all your visitors. While the nice little bunny (π°) would show up fine when seen on your iPhone or Android, desktop visitors might just see a nondescript square:Β
Today’s launch means emoji will now show up properly on every device, no matter if itβs a smartphone, desktop, or tablet. Thanks, Twitter, we appreciate it! π
How do I use them?
Inserting emoji in your posts is most easily done on a smartphone or tablet, though it varies how smartphones let you do it. Here are instructions for Android and iOS.
If youβre antsy to insert new emoji from the comfort of your desktop, here are a couple of tricks:
- Mac users on Mavericks or newerΒ can insert emoji by tapping
Command
+ Control
+ Space
while in a text editor.
- Windows users on version 8 or newer have a special touch keyboard with emoji support (see instructions with pictures).
- Windows users on version 7 and below can copy/paste emoji from this cheat sheet.
Have fun with the new emoji!
π΅ πΆ π· πΈ πΉ
Filed under:
Better Blogging,
Design,
New Features
Emoji? What are they?
βEmojiβ is a Japanese term meaning βpicture character.β Itβs a standard for showing smileys and other little symbols inside text. But unlike traditional smileys that are made up of a sequence of letters like :)
, every emoji has its own letter.
π· πΉ πΊ π» πΌ
Emoji blossomed on smartphones, where quickly picking out an emoji is often faster than typing out a long sentence.
Today weβre rolling out hundreds and hundreds of emoji across WordPress.com β 872 to be exact.
Do they look familiar? Thatβs because Twitter has graciously decided to open-source their entire set, allowing anyone to use them. Weβre already busy preparing to add these to Jetpack, so WordPress.org users can join in the fun too.
Before today, emoji you inserted into your posts on the go wouldnβt always show properly for all your visitors. While the nice little bunny (π°) would show up fine when seen on your iPhone or Android, desktop visitors might just see a nondescript square:Β
Today’s launch means emoji will now show up properly on every device, no matter if itβs a smartphone, desktop, or tablet. Thanks, Twitter, we appreciate it! π
How do I use them?
Inserting emoji in your posts is most easily done on a smartphone or tablet, though it varies how smartphones let you do it. Here are instructions for Android and iOS.
If youβre antsy to insert new emoji from the comfort of your desktop, here are a couple of tricks:
- Mac users on Mavericks or newerΒ can insert emoji by tapping
Command
+ Control
+ Space
while in a text editor.
- Windows users on version 8 or newer have a special touch keyboard with emoji support (see instructions with pictures).
- Windows users on version 7 and below can copy/paste emoji from this cheat sheet.
Have fun with the new emoji!
π΅ πΆ π· πΈ πΉ
Filed under:
Better Blogging,
Design,
New Features
Amazon gets on the kids’ book bandwagon (buying rights to 450 Marshall Cavendish titles, but it doesn’t plan to stop there and hopes to acquire many more children’s stories. Amazon says it sees the children’s book segment as... Read the rest of this post
The serendipitous discovery of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1929 positively transformed modern medicine. Flemingβs decision to spend his summer holiday in East Anglia and his casual approach to laboratory housekeeping was an auspicious combination. After his return to the laboratory he observed that an uncovered culture plate of Staphyloccocus bacteria had been contaminated.
The post The antimicrobial resistance crisis: is there a global solution? appeared first on OUPblog.
Every major news source last week carried news of Andy Whiteβs death at 85. The Guardianβs βEarly Beatles Drummer Andy White Dies at 85β represents a typical article title intended to attract readers albeit with misinformation that suggests that a particular two-minute-and-twenty-second episode from his life should be why we remember him.
The post Not a Beatle: Andy White appeared first on OUPblog.
Is Europe heading towards an Energy Union -- the ambitious goal announced by the Commission at the beginning of this year? If so, many would say that it is about time. Energy has long been neglected by Europe.
The post Obstacles on the road to a European Energy Union appeared first on OUPblog.
What can the history of medicine tell us about food allergy and other medical conditions? An awful lot. History is essentially about why things change over time. None of our ideas about health or medicine simply spring out of the ground. They evolve over time, adapting to various social, political, economic, technological, and cultural factors. If we want to know anything about the health issues that face us today and will face us in future, the very first thing we should do is turn to the history of such issues.
The post What history can tell us about food allergy appeared first on OUPblog.