Last night my 21-year-old daughter, who goes to college in another state, texted me a skull 💀 emoji followed by a crying emoji 😭.
It was a strange response to a photo I sent earlier that day. (For context, the photo was of me trying to get my head unstuck from a very complicated sweater situation. Did she think I was going to accidentally choke myself? Death by double-knit?)
I called her immediately. “What’s wrong are you okay what’s happening did something bad happen what’s going on,” I asked her in one long run-on worried mom stream.
“Uh, nothing’s wrong,” she replied. “I’ve had a great day. Why?”
When I told her why I called, she spent a few minutes laughing and then explained that I’m basically old and out of touch. (That’s me paraphrasing, of course, she was much more kind than that.)
Apparently, the skull and crying face emojis now communicate that something is funny. It’s emoji-slang for “I’m dead,” which also means funny. Really funny.
I did not know that, and if you’re over the age of 35, there’s a good chance you didn’t, either.
Tell me you’re Gen-X without telling me you’re Gen-X
What happened to the good ole’ crying-laughing emoji – or “face with tears of joy” – as it’s officially named? You know, this one 😂.
It was Oxford Dictionary’s “Word of the Year” for best reflecting the “ethos, mood, and preoccupations” of 2015. Less than ten years later though, it’s a sign you’re not cool, current, hip, or “in the know” anymore. 🤦♀️
Why emoji-nal intelligence matters
Emojis are everywhere. They were invented in 1997 but didn’t go mainstream until around 2010. Today, 92% of people use emojis across many different forms of digital communication including texts, social media, and even work emails.
when is iOS 16.4 coming out?
Apple just added 31 new emojis to iOS 16.4 coming this Spring, including a shaking head, moose, and maracas. These new additions bring the total count of available pictographs to 3,664. That’s a lot of little pictures to help add emotional context to texts or use as a communication shortcut, but it’s also more to potentially misunderstand.
Late last year, tech giant Adobe released its U.S. Emoji Trend Report, which looked at the increasingly important role and impact of emoji in digital communication. According to the study, emojis “don’t always mean what you think they do and are always changing,” with nearly half of the people (47%) surveyed saying that they sent an emoji “that was misinterpreted or taken out of context.”
How big of a deal is it to use the ‘wrong’ emoji?
For the most part, emoji misunderstandings are worth a chuckle or two. But sometimes, they get people in serious hot water.
Emoji-evidence is showing up more in court cases, office politics, and reasons people end relationships. There’s even been a concerning increase in emoji-digital blackface.
The bottom line is simple: If we’re going to use emojis – and let’s face we all are and will – it’s important to understand what they mean.
“Emoji meaning is in the eye of the beholder. But it’s also in the sentiment of the sender, and sometimes there’s a big disconnect there,” Keith Broni, the editor-in-chief of the popular emoji reference site, Emojipedia, told me over a video call. Broni says the biggest emoji-misunderstandings these days happen between demographics, especially Gen Z (people born between 1995 and 2012) and pretty much everyone older than that.
“This mechanism, how younger generations look at emojis and co-opt them in different ways, is not a new method or a new phenomenon,” Broni explains. “It’s classic slang and vernacular shorthand of a younger generation trying to forge an identity in shared experiences at that moment in time.”
If you want to be “in the know,” Broni and others say it’s important to remember whom you’re talking with and take the demographics into account, “just like we do with spoken language and other more traditional forms of communication.”
What does a melting face emoji mean?
The melting face emoji was released in September 2021. It started out as a perfect way to express the dread, exhaustion, and “I’m barely hanging on” at a time the world was still reeling from the impact of the pandemic. Today though, it’s morphed into a form a flirting to depict a thrill, or even arousal.
It’s another one of those emoji’s that can mean many different things depending on context: The melting face is appropriate for when it’s really extremely hot outside, or when you feel like you’re in a really intense situation (like sweating through a final exam). People also use it to express embarrassment, shame, a sinking sense of dread, or feeling overwhelmed in some way. Or, as mentioned above, it can be flirty, fun, and downright “hot” in another way…
Top 10 most-misused emojis
How do we stay on top of these ever-changing emoji meanings and avoid using the wrong one? Emojipedia stays incredibly current and is a fantastic resource, but if you want even more subtle nuances, turn to social media.
For this, I went straight to 22-year-old TikTok comedian Ethan Blanko, whose short video series explaining what certain emojis mean to “parents and people over the age of 35” have amassed millions of views across his two accounts.
Via email, Blanko explained the skull emoji I mentioned above, along with several others he and his fellow Gen Z-ers wish the rest of us knew: (I also included a few from other sources, including other popular TikTok posts, well-documented surveys, and Emojipedia.)
😭 Loudly Crying Face = Guilty pleasure laughter/laughing at something you shouldn’t be laughing at.
🤣 Rolling on the Floor Laughing = “This does mean laughter but should only be used when trying to make someone mad, specifically when you are roasting someone,” Blanko explains.
🥵 Hot Face = Means you are physically attracted to someone.
😹 Cat With Tears of Joy = Ironic, sarcastic, basically used to mock someone.
🙂 Slightly Smiling Face = “This is a death threat. If you get this, run,” Blanko says. Emojipedia lists it as both positive, and patronizing, so it’s one that could easily go awry.
🙃 Upside Down Face = Same as above, but even more passive-aggressive.
👍 Thumbs Up = Rude/hostile, passive-aggressive dismissal intended to permanently end the conversation.
🚶Person Walking = “Use these for awkward situations,” Blanko says. “It’s meant to signify leaving the room when situations get intensely uncomfortable.”
🎣 Fishing Pole = Fishing for compliments or validation.
🙏 Prayer Emoji = As its official name denotes, these are praying hands, not a “high five.”
😰 Anxious Face with Sweat = Lust.
🥴 Woozy Face = Drunk, inebriated, high, or infatuated with someone. Can also convey bewilderment, exhaustion, or even irritation.
👌 Okay Hand Signal = Another one with two meanings, depending on the context. Can be used to say “okay,” but is also considered a hate symbol.
✍️ Writing Hand = Means you’re taking notes, or that you should be really paying attention to something. Often used to emphasize importance between words.
✨ Sparkles = Current use to add emphasis between words to convey a sarcastic or mocking tone.
This is a good list to understand, but I plan to keep using my laughing face emoji, along with a few other great go-to’s, even though they out me as “officially old.” Whatever you do though, understand that the eggplant and peach, along with a few others, will likely never be considered “safe for work,” or just about anything other than sexting – ever again.