It is commonly said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Emojis now dominate written language, appearing in texting, messaging and communication via social networking. The popularity of these emoticons have led Oxford Dictionary to name the 2015 Word of the Year as the “Face with Tears of Joy” emoji.

This being the first year in which the Word of the Year is not, in fact, a word, opinions on the matter have been mixed.

Junior Victoria Sorrentino said, “This provides an accurate representation of life and the values of society. When Emojis are now considered as words, it gives a different sense to culture and society as it moves along,” Victoria Sorrentino, junior, said.

Sorrentino had some negative feelings about the subject.

“I think it’s kind of sad that we are moving away from written language,” Sorrentinto said.

Librarian Nichole Ballard-Long said, “Well, I think it’s interesting. Oxford Dictionary is going in a new direction, I guess if they don’t want to be obsolete since people don’t use paper dictionaries or books anymore, they have to go along with the times.”

When asked whether or not the event was a poor representation of modern society, Ballard-Long said, “Maybe it’s a poor reflection on our communication skills.”

The ultimate goal of the Word of the Year is to recollect what the world has been like that year.

Sorrentino later said, “I think the word of the year should encompass what that year was about, probably an adjective. I like the idea of having an adjective that describes how we moved in society. This year could have been terrorized.”