Well done smart phones – you’re on your way to fulfilling your mission of murdering the English language, because the fastest growing ‘language’ in the UK is… emoji.

No, this isn’t the opinion of some drunk guy you met on a bus one night, but rather the professional belief of Vyvyan Evans, Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University.

A study by Talk Talk mobile found that 80 per cent of us now use the digital symbols to converse on a regular basis.


Prof Evans describes emojis as ‘like modern hieroglyphics’, pointing out just how many are of cat’s faces.



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He also warns against using emojis when breaking bad news or in formal settings such as job applications.

Here are the ten most popular emojis used by Brits today:

Ten most used emojis 1. Smiley face (for when you don’t know how to respond) 2. Crying with laughter (for when something isn’t funny) 3. Love heart (for when you are indifferent to someone) 4. Beaming red cheeks (for when you’re REALLY indifferent) 5. Thumbs up (for when you just want to end the conversation) 6. Tongue out winking face (for when you don’t know how to flirt properly) 7. Blow kiss (for when you REALLY don’t know how to flirt properly) 8. Wink face (for when you don’t want to come off as creepy – but you are) 9. Confused (for when you know what’s going on but don’t like it) 10. See no evil monkey (for when you need to deny evolution)

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