Textspeak & emoji

● Aliven.✎ 3

Orange Cat Behavior

The theory that all orange cats share a single brain cell and take turns with it — and 'orange cat behaviour' as the phrase for any act of confident stupidity, by a cat or a person. The record's entry for the colour as a diagnosis.

▸ 2021peak 2023still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Pregnant Man Emoji

🫃 — the pregnant man, added for inclusion in 2021 and adopted by the internet for 'I ate too much', to the point where the joke has outlasted the argument. The record's entry for the emoji that arrived controversial and became a food review.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

● Aliveabbr.✎ 3

ONG

'On God' — the oath, abbreviated — as the 2020s' sincerity marker, appended to any claim: 'that's the best pizza ong'. The record has the phrase; this is the acronym, which is younger and more typed.

▸ 2020peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Pinched Fingers

🤌 — the Italian hand gesture, added in 2020 and adopted immediately for 'what do you want from me', 'chef's kiss', and a whole genre of joke about Italians. The record's entry for the emoji that arrived already famous.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Smiling Through Tears

🥲 — the face smiling with one tear, arrived in 2020 and needed immediately: for pride, relief, bittersweet news, and the specific feeling of a friend leaving. The record's entry for the emoji that a pandemic year required and got.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Tone Indicators

A family of tags — /j (joking), /gen (genuine), /srs (serious), /lh (light-hearted), /nm (not mad) — that grew from /s in 2020 among communities that wanted tone made explicit. The record's entry for the vocabulary that tried to fix text, and for the arguments about whether it did.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Shy Fingers

👉👈 — two index fingers touching, as the emoji of a shy request: 'can I have a bite 👉👈'. The record's entry for the gesture that asks without asking, and for the 🥺 that usually accompanies it.

▸ 2019peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Chonk

A fat cat, affectionately — 'a heckin' chonker' — from a 2018 chart that graded cats from 'a fine boi' to 'OH LAWD HE COMIN''. The record's entry for the scale that made obesity adorable, in cats only, and the vet's least favourite meme.

▸ 2018peak 2019still up

◐ Dyingabbr.✎ 3

FOBO

'Fear of a better option' — the inability to commit to a plan in case a better one arrives, named by the man who named FOMO, as its sequel. The record's entry for the acronym family, and for the fear that the group chat will produce something better at 7 p.m.

▸ 2018peak 2019still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Woozy Face

🥴 — the woozy face, meant for drunkenness, adopted for lust, awkwardness, and 'I'm not okay', and the record's entry for the emoji that did not do what it was designed for and did everything else.

▸ 2018peak 2020still up

● Aliveabbr.✎ 2

DYOR

'Do your own research' — the disclaimer at the end of a post recommending something, which makes the recommender not responsible and the reader entirely so. The record's entry for the phrase that sounds like advice and functions as a waiver.

▸ 2017peak 2021still up

☠ Deadphr.✎ 2

Doin Me a Frighten

'Doing me a frighten' — a scared dog's caption, in the dialect where verbs are nouns and the dog is the narrator — as the 2016–17 way of describing a startled animal, and the record's entry for the grammar of the doggo.

▸ 2016peak 2017†2019

◐ Dyingadv.✎ 3

Heckin

'Very', in DoggoLingo — 'a heckin good boy' — as the intensifier for animal captions, and the record's entry for the swear word softened until it could be said by a Labrador.

▸ 2016peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Lowercase Aesthetic

Typing entirely in lowercase, including 'i', as a tone: casual, soft, a little sad. The record's entry for the choice that reads as effortlessness and requires turning off autocorrect, which is effort.

▸ 2016peak 2019still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Pupper

A small dog, in DoggoLingo — the dialect in which a dog is a doggo, a small one a pupper, a large one a woofer, and all of them good. The record's entry for the vocabulary that a Twitter account rating dogs taught the world in 2016.

▸ 2016peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Void Cat

A black cat, especially in a photo where only the eyes are visible — the void — and the record's entry for the internet's rehabilitation of the unluckiest cat by giving it a name from cosmology.

▸ 2016peak 2019still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Blep

A cat's tongue, left out slightly, by accident — the blep — and the record's entry for the anatomical event that got a name, a subreddit and a genre of photograph. A 'mlem' is the tongue in motion; a blep is at rest.

▸ 2015peak 2017still up

● Alivephr.✎ 3

Boop the Snoot

To touch an animal's nose gently with one finger — 'boop' — and the nose itself, the 'snoot'. The record's entry for the gesture, the sound, and the internet's most consensual interaction with a dog.

▸ 2015peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Grimace Emoji

😬 — the grimace, teeth bared — as the emoji for awkwardness, secondhand embarrassment and 'I have bad news'. The record's entry for the face that means 'yikes', and the message that usually follows it.

▸ 2015peak 2019still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Hooman

A human, as spoken by a dog — 'hooman' — in the captions the internet writes for its pets, and the record's entry for the misspelling that gave animals a voice and owners a way to talk about themselves in the third person.

▸ 2015peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Passive-Aggressive Smiley

🙂 — the slightly smiling face, which is not a smile but a warning, especially from a manager: 'please have it by 5 🙂'. The record's entry for the emoji that means the opposite of its shape, and for the generation that reads it correctly.

▸ 2015peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Prayer Hands

🙏 — thanks, please, blessed, or a high five, depending on who you ask — as the emoji that ended a thousand messages and started one argument about whether it is two hands or one. The record's entry for the gesture with a theology and a dispute.

▸ 2015peak 2018still up

● Aliveadj.✎ 3

Smol

'Small', but smaller — 'smol' — as the internet's word for anything tiny and beloved: a kitten, a frog, a friend. The record's entry for the misspelling that added affection, and for the 'smol bean', which is a person.

▸ 2015peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Snek

A snake, made adorable by a misspelling — 'snek' — with 'danger noodle' as its full title and 'nope rope' as its warning. The record's entry for the reptile that the internet decided to love, one vowel at a time.

▸ 2015peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Sploot

An animal lying flat with its back legs stretched out behind — the sploot — first named for corgis and applied since to cats, squirrels and one very relaxed bear. The record's entry for the pose with a word, and for the summer squirrels that sploot on cold pavements.

▸ 2015peak 2018still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

100 Emoji

💯 — 'keep it a hundred', total agreement, full marks — as the emoji that means 'exactly' and 'honestly' at once, from 2014 to now, and the record's entry for the number that became a mood.

▸ 2014peak 2016still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Fire Emoji

🔥 — approval, heat, excellence — as the emoji under any good photo, song or outfit, and the record's entry for the compliment that requires no words and has been given to every selfie since 2014.

▸ 2014peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Floof

A very fluffy animal, or the fluff itself — 'look at this floof' — as the internet's word for a fur situation, and the record's entry for the noun that is also a texture.

▸ 2014peak 2017still up

● Alivephr.✎ 2

Press F to Pay Respects

A game's instruction to press F at a funeral, which the internet found so absurd that 'F' became the universal condolence — 'F in chat' — typed under any loss from a death to a dropped phone. The record's entry for the letter as a wreath.

▸ 2014peak 2016still up

● Alivephr.✎ 3

Slide Into DMs

To open a private message to someone you fancy, on a platform where you had been merely a follower — the slide — from a 2014 Twitter joke into the general vocabulary of approach. The record's entry for the private message as a move.

▸ 2014peak 2016still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Toe Beans

The pads on a cat's paw, which look like beans, and are called beans, and are photographed as beans. The record's entry for the anatomy that the internet renamed after a legume, and for the 'jelly beans' of a pink-pawed cat.

▸ 2014peak 2018still up

● Alivephr.✎ 3

Buy the Dip

The instruction to buy when the price falls, said with a confidence that the fall is temporary, and the record's entry for the phrase that is right about half the time and posted all of the time. BTFD is the version with an expletive in the middle.

▸ 2013peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Cat Loaf

A cat sitting with all four paws tucked under, so that it is a loaf — a loaf of cat — and the record's entry for the shape as a category, with sub-types ('the sphynx loaf', 'the double loaf') catalogued by people with time.

▸ 2013peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Birb

A bird, especially a round one — 'birb' — and the record's entry for the misspelling that made ornithology cute. A big bird is a 'borb', a bird in flight a 'birb' at speed, and a very round one a 'floof'.

▸ 2012peak 2017still up

☠ Deadabbr.✎ 3

MCM / WCW

'Man crush Monday' and 'woman crush Wednesday' — the weekly permission to post someone attractive, from 2012 Instagram to a habit so regular that it died of the calendar. The record's entry for the crush with a day.

▸ 2012peak 2014†2017

● Aliveabbr.✎ 3

ELI5

'Explain like I'm five' — a request for a simple answer, from a subreddit that became a genre and a phrase used in meetings by people who are not five. The record's entry for the confession of not understanding, made acceptable.

▸ 2011peak 2015still up

● Aliveabbr.✎ 3

ICYMI

'In case you missed it' — the repost's excuse, from news accounts in 2011 into every brand's second attempt at the same post. The record's entry for the acronym that means 'again'.

▸ 2011peak 2015still up

◐ Dyingphr.✎ 2

If It Fits, I Sits

The cat's law — any container is a seat — as a caption from the lolcat era that outlived lolcats and became the name for a whole genre of photo: cat in box, cat in bowl, cat in sink. The record's entry for the physics of cats.

▸ 2011peak 2014still up

◐ Dyingabbr.✎ 3

OOMF

'One of my followers' — the anonymous reference to a specific person everyone can guess, in a subtweet: 'oomf needs to log off'. The record's entry for the pronoun that protects nobody.

▸ 2011peak 2014still up

◐ Dyingabbr.✎ 2

TBT

'Throwback Thursday' — the weekly permission to post an old photo, from 2011 Instagram into a habit that no longer needs the Thursday. The record's entry for nostalgia with a schedule, and for the day of the week that became a hashtag.

▸ 2011peak 2014still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

/s

The sarcasm tag — '/s' at the end of a sentence — from a joke HTML closing tag into the internet's most-argued-about punctuation: necessary, say some; ruins the joke, say others. The record's entry for the mark that tells you it was a joke, which was, itself, the joke.

▸ 2010peak 2016still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Crying Laughing Emoji

😂 — the face with tears of joy, the most-used emoji on Earth for a decade and the Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year in 2015, now considered by anyone under twenty-five to be the laugh of a parent. The record's entry for the face that won and then aged.

▸ 2010peak 2015still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Ellipsis (Ominous)

'…' — three dots, which older texters use as a pause and younger ones read as a threat: 'ok…' is an ending; 'see you tomorrow…' is a warning. The record's entry for the punctuation with a generation gap, and for the mother whose every text is a cliffhanger.

▸ 2010peak 2018still up

● Aliveabbr.✎ 2

FOH

'F*** outta here' — dismissal, from AAVE into general use by 2015 as the reply to anything not worth engaging with: a bad take, a bad price, a bad excuse. The record's entry for the eviction with a Southern accent.

▸ 2010peak 2015still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Haha vs Lol

The hierarchy of typed laughter — 'haha' is warm, 'ha' is cold, 'hahaha' is sincere, 'lol' is punctuation, 'LOL' is sarcasm — as codified by a 2015 Facebook study and by everyone who has ever read a text too closely. The record's entry for the science of the fake laugh.

▸ 2010peak 2015still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Huffing Face

😤 — a face with steam from the nose, meant for anger, used for determination, pride and 'let's go' — and the record's entry for the emoji that changed mood by consensus. 'Finally finished 😤' is triumph, not rage.

▸ 2010peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Loudly Crying Emoji

😭 — the sobbing face, which Gen Z repurposed as a laugh, a cringe, and a general reaction to anything strong, so that it overtook 😂 as the most-used emoji on Twitter in 2021. The record's entry for the tears that mean everything but sadness.

▸ 2010peak 2021still up

● Aliveabbr.✎ 2

OOTD

'Outfit of the day' — the daily mirror photo, from fashion blogs in 2010 into a TikTok genre with a transition and a song. The record's entry for the wardrobe as a diary, and the mirror as a studio.

▸ 2010peak 2015still up