How to tell the world you're dying with laughter.

XD. The strangest word said to date in my household.

Know it? You should, if you’re marketing to kids.

My 13-year old son uses it quite often. TOO often. It becomes annoying. So I finally had to do what all good mothers do: look it up.

According to reputable online sources, XD is used in funny moments, embarrassing moments and plain old stupid moments. XD is represented by the emoji below, which represents the guy who is "dying laughing."

When you look at this emoji, and imagine rotating it 90 degrees to the left, it will make an X from the shut eyes and a D from the laughing open mouth, like this: >< D

My synopsis? XD could easily be considered the most annoying internet expression ever created. Here's an example of usage in my family:

Son texting: “Hey Mum, I got an A on my math test today.”

Me: “Awesome! You must be proud.”

Son: “Actually, it’s an A minus. Not so good. XD.”

Uhhhhhhhhh. What is the accurate response to that?

Here’s another example (not from my home):

Person 1: *tells a dumb joke.* Person 2: "You try so hard, it's funny. XD."

Yeah, I don’t get it either. The letters remind me of a punk band of the 80's. Or maybe an extra strength painkiller. "Hey, can you pick up some XD at the pharmacy?"

Perhaps I am dating myself. Okay yes I AM dating myself but as a writer, this evolution of the English language is almost offensive.

First we had to swallow the introduction of acronyms to shorten words for texting purposes. LOL, LMAO, BRB, TMI... now this.

But this is a whole other level.

This XD is a three-step process. First, this is taking a verb/human reaction (dying of laughter) and representing it with the pictorial symbol (emoji). Then, it's translating that emoji into the emoticon: >< D. And finally, it's creating an acronym from that emoticon. XD.

Will XD and other strange iterations like this become common household words in short order?

What will our language of the future be?

Who knows... but considering binge-watch, YOLO and worstest have all been added to the Oxford Dictionary as legitimate words, anything can happen. Yes. Seriously. WORSTEST.

I find that rather, well.... XD.