The Oxford dictionary forgets what words are, nominates a picture instead

[handlebar]

@Ace Dragon

The visual form of language indeed has the advantage of being fairly universal, but at the cost of not working well with modern day communication with keyboards and the requirement to make a new image for every possible meaning or description.

There are already established keyboard shortcuts for emojis or emoticons on most social networking sites. The smiley face shortcut is fairly standard across many websites, they are already an established form of communication.

Pre the technological age communication relied on proximity, that is no longer the case so it only makes sense that the way we communicate will change.

Evolution happens gradually, the Oxford dictionary is just responding to a changing world.

[joseph_raccoon]

@Ace Dragon

Not at all, but please don’t be pretending that pictures and pictographs are ‘words’ in the traditional sense (yes, they are a valid form of language, but it is a form that is seen as an alternative to using words, not a form that’s one and the same). Now they might describe something, yes, but it’s a different type of description.

Have you ever considered that some of us are raised in cultures that do view pictographs as words? Just because you have trouble grasping that. It does not invalidate the world view of those who do.