A guide to emoticons: how to understand them and not get into an awkward position. Emoji Dictionary, or how to find out the meaning of Emoji on Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch Correct Emoji Combinations
Veronica Elkina
Emoji are cute and frivolous symbols that many people think are only used by teenagers. But in fact, behind them lies deep functionality, history and future.
How do emoji differ from emoticons?
Some people confuse emoji and emoticon (smiley).
The symbol combination:-) means a smiling face. This is an emoticon - a pictogram depicting an emotion, created from various typographic characters. Users are limited only by their imagination and the existing set of characters. Combinations of characters can be very simple or complex and decorative, such as Japanese kaomoji (from Japanese kao - “face”, and moji - “sign, hieroglyph”).
Image: Face Forward
Emoji are specific ideograms based on the Unicode standard. To convey an emoticon with a smiling face, you will need a special emoji.
Advanced hieroglyph of the 21st century
Why do people use emoticons and emojis? Obviously, to add expressiveness and emotion to communication that cannot be conveyed through text and punctuation alone.
The creator of the first emoticons, Scott Fahlman, believes that one of the main advantages of these graphic symbols is that they save space. Take SMS, for example: they have a 160-character limit, which means that in order to save money, users have to replace long words with short ones or with icons. Emoticons and emoji also add a new flavor to words. Because of this, people began to use these symbols as a style element of communication, where some pictograms became advanced hieroglyphs of the 21st century.
The very first set of emoji was invented in 1999 by Shigetaka Kurita. He developed it for the Japanese telephone operator NTT DoCoMo on the first mobile Internet platform
Emoji) are not a by-product of the development of society. This is the style of icons (emoticons). Today they have become an important part of the history and culture of the whole world. Emoji have found their place in the heart of almost every Internet user.
Many people don’t know what they are, but those who know and come across them all the time believe that emojis are just another form of entertainment. In fact, this is not true at all.
What is it? What are they needed for? We will try to figure this out in this article.
Smiley, emoji and sticker
Let's find out what it is? It's not exactly the same thing. An emoticon expresses emotions using the usual standard punctuation, for example “:-”).
Emoji is a code (an ordinary standard character from Unicode), which is available on all platforms that support it, and is typed and transmitted with only one specific code (for example, “\xF0\x9F\x98\x81”).
A sticker is simply a picture transmitted by a file or link.
Definition of Emoji
It is a language of emoticons and ideograms used in various web pages and electronic messages. This is a way of communicating using graphics - instead of ordinary words, combinations of pictures are used here. This language first appeared in Japan and then spread throughout the world.
Some of its symbols have quite specific meanings in Japanese culture. Here are some of them:
- white flower (indicates perfectly completed homework);
- bowing businessman;
- a group of symbols representing popular food: dango, ramen, sushi, etc.
There are also emoticons that arose at the initiative of Internet users, and unlike emoji, they are a means of conveying emotions using existing typographic means. Emojis represent faces.
History of origin
The very first emoji were created by Shigetaka Kurita in 1998-1999. He was a member of the group working at that time to create the i-mode Internet platform.
Then a set of emojis was created - these are 172 characters measuring 12 × 12 pixels. They were part of the i-mode messaging features and were designed to make electronic communication easier and faster.
Nicolas Laufrani began experimenting with animated emoticons back in 1997 to create colorful icons that could match existing ASCII emoticons. The latter consisted only of simple punctuation marks. Thus, Loufrani created the first graphic emoticons that were included in the online dictionary. Moreover, they were divided into categories: “Emotions”, “Classical”, “Holidays”, “Planets”, “Food”, “Flags”, “Sports”, “Babies”, “Nationalities”, “Entertainment”, “Weather” , “Animals”, “Professions” and many others. etc.
All of these images were registered with the US Copyright Office in 1997 and then posted online as GIFs in 1998. Thus, they became the first graphic emoticons in world history, which began to be used in various technologies.
What are emojis for?
Today, emojis are another way to quickly communicate. Written speech has one significant drawback compared to oral speech - the difficulty of conveying emotions. After all, when exchanging information in writing, the interlocutors do not see each other’s facial expressions and gestures. In addition to everything, someone writing on the Internet needs to have fast typing skills.
Of course, there are talented people (for example, writers) who can clearly and accurately convey emotions in words, but there are few of them, and there is simply not enough time for this when communicating through chat and other instant messaging services. Therefore, it was necessary to come up with something that could facilitate such communication by simply inserting a code or symbol into the text, so that the output would be an expression of emotion that reflects the state of the speaker.
It was precisely this problem that at one time contributed to the emergence of Internet slang, although it does not really help convey emotions towards the written text or its author. But this was not enough - a serious breakthrough was needed.
Initially, the solution to this issue was emoticons. But at first, their use was not considered a serious matter, but now it is acceptable even in business correspondence (for example, a colon with a stick and a parenthesis). Moreover, in this case, it won’t even matter if these icons are not converted into a smiley picture. Because everyone has long been accustomed to them, everyone understands what emotion these punctuation marks reproduce.
Peculiarities
Emoji is a smiley that makes it easier for people to communicate on social media. networks and retelling the plots of famous works and films. When asked who needs this network, the creators of emoji.li (social network) responded that no one needed Twitter at first either.
It should be noted that emoji are actively involved in pop culture. These amazing ones even played an almost dominant role in the video for Katy Perry - Roar (in one version).
As a result, emojis slowly spread throughout the world because they are very useful, funny and cute.
Conclusion
Not all emotions can be conveyed in printed words. Emoji are a wonderful find. Probably, it is still impossible to argue that with their help you can fully correspond, but one thing is clear: it is also impossible to imagine communication without emoji at all. For example, they can quite easily convey excessive tragic sadness and contain self-irony. Emojis have proven that they are capable of many things.
A database of emoticons that can be used in various communication services and on various web pages. You can copy any emoticon and paste it into an e-mail message, VKontakte, Twitter or Facebook - it will appear in all these services and will have the same meaning. In this case, it does not matter from which device it was sent.
Please note that the display of icons depends on operating systems, browsers and communication services you use. Read more about this below.
Emoticon categories:
How do Emoji differ from regular emoticons?
Emoji is a language of ideograms and emoticons that can be displayed both in a separate text message and on a web page. Emoji is part of Unicode, which allows you to copy the emoticon code to the clipboard and paste it into a messenger or social network message, into an e-mail or on a forum. In this case, the symbol will be visible everywhere and will have the same meaning. And it doesn’t matter what device it was sent from.
Initially, Emoji were exclusively available to smartphone users living in Japan. They were invented by a Japanese programmer mobile operator NTT docomo Shigetaka Kurita. He saw that users often draw faces using brackets, quotes and dashes to express emotions, and decided to replace them with pictograms.
The Western world first took notice of Japanese icons in 2011, when Apple included them in the keyboard on devices with iOS version 5. At the same time, Emoji were included in Unicode.
Emoji display issues
Depending on operating systems, browsers and communication services, emoji emoticons.
Since most sites use UTF-8 encoding, it is possible that you will see empty squares instead of emoticons. However, recently browser developers have been solving this problem. Shows Emoji most correctly latest version web browser. Support for Japanese icons is also implemented in the updated . Most emoticons support , and . But for users of Internet navigators, we do not recommend actively communicating using Emoji - you will not see at least 60% of what you send or receive.
The OS version also matters. Windows 10 displays more emojis than Windows 8, and version 7 has even fewer. In XP they are not supported at all. It’s interesting that in versions 8 and 10 of Microsoft’s operating system, most of them are already integrated into, but it’s not very convenient to use.
Incomplete implementation in instant messengers and social networks
Many emoji emoticons are integrated into Hangouts and VKontakte, but this integration is incomplete - if you can insert such an icon into a VKontakte message, then the question is:
Sometimes words alone are not enough to express feelings. In such cases, communicating in in social networks, we turn to emoji. Winking “emoticons” and other symbols appeared back in 1999, but they only recently won great love among users. Despite the fact that almost everyone uses them, the meanings of some pictures are not entirely clear.
In contact with
For example, two palms clasped together can be interpreted in different ways - perhaps they symbolize prayer, but it is also possible that these are two people greeting each other with the words “High Five”. How to understand the meaning of certain emojis? We bring to your attention a few tips that will help you understand the meaning of emoticons on iPhone, iPad and macOS.
Examples of the meaning of emoticons Emoji
Many users mistake this picture for a crying face. In fact, the drop is not a tear, but sweat, meaning relief after the excitement experienced.
Don't be fooled, this is not a nut at all, but a roasted sweet potato.
What appears at first glance to be a pyramid of ping-pong balls is actually a “harvest festival card,” symbolizing a Japanese traditional ceremony that occurs during the Tsukimi festival.
If you think it's an acorn, you're wrong. It's actually a chestnut.
This picture should not be used as a greeting card as it is nothing more than a bookmark.
This gesture means “OK” and indicates that everything is fine with you.
Raised palms do not mean an appeal to higher powers, but symbolize joy.
This “smiley” means severe irritation and a nervous state. Many users mistakenly use it to express contempt.
What looks like a black cube actually symbolizes the Muslim shrine of the Kaaba located in Mecca.
No, this girl does not have deer antlers growing on her head. They just give her a facial massage.
Often users resort to this picture when they want to express denial of something, but in fact it symbolizes the person at the information board.
This is not a dance move at all, as it may seem, but open arms.
This boy didn't hide or think. Believe it or not, he bows.
A smiley face without a mouth symbolizes silence. However, it is often used to express confusion, even fear, and is sometimes used as a "Kolobok" character.
You might think it's fire, but it's actually a name badge.
This sign is not a fancy image of a house at all, but a symbol of anger.
The picture below appeared with the release of iOS 10.2. Some people might see a glass of whiskey here, but in reality it's just a glass.
This symbol does not mean ordinary laughter, but hysterical laughter, when the laugher literally rolls on the floor.
This image can be interpreted as both a jellyfish and an umbrella, but Apple believes that this is what the oriental furin bell looks like, ringing in the wind.
Do not confuse this symbol with the panic button. It's actually a trackball.
You shouldn’t look for hidden meaning in this sign, because it’s just a hole.
It may seem that this guy is none other than the legendary Ziggy Stardust performed by British artist David Bowie. Despite the similar makeup, this is just a symbol of any singer.
How to independently find out the meaning (determine the meaning) of emoji on iPhone
Finding out the meaning of an emoji on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch is very easy. Using the function Pronunciation you can “force” iOS to explain out loud what this or that picture means.
1 . On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to " Settings", select "About main» -> « Universal access» -> Speech -> Pronunciation).
2 . Write a message and insert an emoji.
3 . Place the cursor next to the Emoji emoticon whose meaning you want to find out and click on the screen until a menu with actions appears.
Click " Choose", after which the emoji will be highlighted, and then select the option " Talk” and the voice assistant will read aloud the meaning of the emoticon in Russian.
Emoticons have become such a part of our lives that without them the alphabet looks incomplete, and messages seem dry and distant. But even such a frivolous and childishly simple task as arranging emojis has its own subtleties.
What do different emoticons mean?
With object emoticons, everything is simple: they mean what they represent. A ball is a ball, an alarm clock is an alarm clock, and there’s nothing to think about. But with face emoticons the task becomes more complicated. We are not always able to correctly guess emotions from the faces of living people, let alone the faces of koloboks. There are emoticons whose meaning is obvious:
Fun, laughter, joy, rejoicing.
Sadness, melancholy, melancholy, dissatisfaction.
Playful mood, teasing.
Surprise, amazement, shock, fear.
Anger, resentment, rage.
And several more similar ones - all possible options for families and romantic unions.
But among the emoticons there are also those whose meaning can be interpreted ambiguously, or even be completely confusing:
This emoticon depicts a person sobbing in three - well, in two - streams, however, in the version for Apple devices, due to raised eyebrows and a mouth that is not distorted from sobs, he is often perceived as laughing to the point of tears. Be careful with them: you want to indicate grief to them, but they will misunderstand you.
This emoticon is intended to represent silence. Instead, he just scares you to death.
If everything is more or less clear with the evil devil (“angry as hell”), then the cheerful devil is somewhat puzzling. Most likely, he is not only furious, but also looking forward to dancing on your opponent’s grave. But you, perhaps, just wanted to show originality and an unusual smiley.
Despite the fact that the three wise monkeys did not see, hear or speak anything precisely because of their wisdom, these muzzles cover their eyes, mouth and ears in shame, confusion and shock.
A set of cat emoticons for those who consider ordinary koloboks to be insufficiently expressive and want to add sweetness to their emotions.
Instead of “hello” and “bye,” you can wave your hand.
Raised hands, a gesture of joyful greeting or jubilation.
The applause is both sincere and sarcastic.
If in this picture you see hands folded in a prayer gesture, then for you the emoji may mean “thank you” or “I beg you.” Well, if you see a high-five happening here, it means you are a very cheerful person.
A raised index finger can emphasize the importance of a message or express a request to interrupt the interlocutor with a question, or it can simply indicate a previous message in the chat.
Fingers crossed for luck.
For some it’s “stop”, but for others it’s “high five!”
No, it's not a truffle. Not even a truffle at all.
Ogre and Japanese goblin. Looks like someone is missing the usual devils.
Liar. His nose grows like Pinocchio's every time he lies.
These are eyes wide with amazement, and the darting eyes of a scoundrel, and even a lustful look. If someone sends you such an emoticon in a comment to a photo, you can be sure that the photo is good.
And it's just an eye, and it's watching you.
New moon and full moon. It seems like nothing special, but these emoticons have their fans who value them for their creepy facial expressions.
A very common girl in purple. Her gestures mean OK (arms above head), “no” (arms crossed), “hello” or “I know the answer” (arm raised up). This character has another pose that confuses many - . According to the official version, it symbolizes a help desk employee. Apparently, she is showing with her hand how to get to the city library.
Do you also see two tense faces here, presumably in an unfriendly mood? But they didn’t guess: according to Apple’s hints, this is an embarrassed face and a stubborn face. Who would have thought!
By the way, you can see hints for emoticons in the message window on if you open an emoji and hover over the emoticon you are interested in. Like this:
Another way to find out the meaning of an emoticon is to turn to emojipedia.org for help. On it you will find not only detailed interpretations of emoticons, but you can also see how the same emoticon looks on different platforms. Many unexpected discoveries await you.
Where are emoticons appropriate?
1. In informal friendly correspondence
Funny yellow faces are appropriate in a personal chat, where you share not so much information as your mood. With the help of emoticons, you will laugh at a joke, sympathize, and make faces at each other. This is where emotions belong.
2. When emotions splash over the edge and there are not enough words
Sometimes, when something very important happens in our lives, we are so overwhelmed with feelings that we are about to burst. Then we write an emotional post on Facebook or post a dazzling photo on Instagram and decorate it with a generous scattering of emoticons. Some people, of course, won’t like this, but what now, stifling all the bright sensations in yourself? The main thing is not to overuse such public displays of violent emotions: this will alienate subscribers and call into question your adequacy.
3. By agreement, to highlight messages in work correspondence
This is a very simple and convenient way to make important messages that require an urgent response visible. For example, great for these purposes. But you need to agree in advance which cases are considered urgent in your company and what emoticon you will use for this.
It is important not to overdo it: if you have one emoticon for messages about emergency situations, a second for urgent issues, a third for important news, then soon all work correspondence will turn into New Year's garland, which no one looks at.
When is it better to do without emoticons?
1. In business correspondence
Work is no place for emotions. Here you are required to be calm, collected and professional. Even if you want to emphasize your friendliness or express concern about a situation, use , not emoticons, for these purposes.
2. When communicating with foreigners
This is especially true for gesture emoticons. For example, the person you wanted to express approval of will put an end to your good relationship with a person from Greece or Thailand. Of course, with this gesture you sent him to hell.
Therefore, if you are not confident in your deep knowledge of the peculiarities of the national culture of your interlocutor, do not take risks.
3. Oddly enough, when you discuss feelings and emotions
Feelings are a serious matter. If you are not just chatting, but revealing your soul or sharing something important, words will convey your feelings and experiences much more accurately than emoticons. “You are dearer to me than anyone in the world” means much more than ten hearts in a row. In the end, you only have one heart, so give it away.
Remember that emojis are a seasoning, not the main ingredient. You only need a small amount to add punch to your message.
Emoji language
Judging by the fact that today almost no personal correspondence is complete without emoticons, we can safely say that emoji have become an independent section of the language. Sometimes they even pretend to replace language: you can write an entire message using only emoticons. In the popular American TV show Ellen DeGeneres there is even a special section in which guests are invited to read a phrase where some of the words are replaced with emoji:
And here the name of the film is encrypted, which we invite you to guess.
