It seems that everything that can be faked has been faked.

Taco Bell and Pizza Hut say they're getting rid of artificial colors and flavors, making them the latest big food companies scrambling to distance themselves from ingredients people might find unappetizing. Instead of "black pepper flavor," for instance, Taco Bell will start using actual black pepper in its seasoned beef, says Liz Matthews, the chain's chief food innovation officer.

Why would anyone invent black pepper flavor, when there's black pepper? Probably because it doesn't go stale, but when you use as much of the stuff as Taco Bell presumably uses, that's not a problem. Perhaps it's cheaper. Just makes you wonder what the main ingredient in Black Pepper Flavor really is. Whether it's a chemical made in huge vats and sprayed on minced chuck bound for Taco Bell.

By the way, happy bulk consumer demographic, your masters have your welfare in mind:

Brian Niccol, the chain's CEO, said price increases are based on a variety of factors, and that the company would work to keep its menu affordable.

"I do not want to lose any element of being accessible to the masses," Niccol said.

The Massies! You'd think they'd use the term only in private, when testing contemptuous things like, oh, black pepper flavor.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It's a beautiful thing, Winston, the destruction of language. Fusion.net:

. . .We are still without a simple 'wing' emoji. We will now have newly minted 'owl' 'eagle' and 'duck', in addition to the 'pigeon' () and five different kinds of chicken ( ), but most of those are just heads without wings. If you want to express 'flying' or 'soaring' or 'feeling light' or 'winged' you have very few options. If you've ever tried to communicate exclusively in emoji, you know the language desperately needs more ways to express action.

While that's true, the solution would seem to be communicating in ways that do not rely entirely on tiny pictures. The list of new emoji is here, and the proposals include the Shrug:

Loses something in the translation.

VotD Wassa matter you? Hey! Gotta no respect. What-a you t'ink you do? Ay, slappa you face.

Remember, when slapping an employee awake, set up the camera first.