5 ms·

That Emoji Does Not Mean What You Think It Means

33 points by andygambles 11y ago

zeveb 11y ago
So, I've been texting a gal for awhile. I use Android; she owns an iPhone. Now I'm worried that I've been sending her the wrong signals. Whoops.
cryptoz 11y ago
[removed]
- Jtsummers 11y ago
  I'm not sure it's really changing, emoji gives us a tool for something many of us did in grade school when writing notes. We drew faces and other things on the messages. That experience has largely not carried over to computer/phone messaging apps. Besides, we've had smileys for ages as well. ^_^, :), :-P, D:, :-E (bucktoothed vampire), etc. have all been around for a while and predate emoji, which just give us a single character representation (and a variety, several types of smiles and frowns and sweating and crying that can be used for different things).
bdz 11y ago
Here is the paper http://grouplens.org/site-content/uploads/Emoji_Interpretation.pdf http://grouplens.org/site-content/uploads/Emoji_Interpretati...
maxerickson 11y ago
It's nice to see that comments sections are moving away from illiterate bile towards performance art.
Strilanc 11y ago
Notable error in the article. They say: > about half of the characters used on Instagram are emoji ( http://gizmodo.com/emojis-are-becoming-the-dominant-language-of-instagram-1701819068#_ga=1.199050415.1606256242.1460027476 http://gizmodo.com/emojis-are-becoming-the-dominant-language... ) but the linked article says: > As of March 2015, nearly half of all text-based communications over Instagram contained emoji. That's a huge difference in meaning.
dang 11y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11446047 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11446047
draw_down 11y ago
On the iPhone the difference between the "grimacing" emoji and the one discussed here is extremely slight (the grimacing one has circles for eyes instead of arches). The grimacing one is supposed to be the actual negative one.
vit05 11y ago
As emoji have become more popular in the corporate messages, this could be a really big problem. I usually contact my credit card operator in chat, and they always include an emoji. Sometimes I really don't understand why they send that smile that is looking as someone anxious. But know I understand better.
Dove 11y ago
When I look at the emoji they show for the "grinning face with smiling eyes", three of them strike me as being nowhere close to that description. But I am especially intrigued that the three of them all fail in the same way: the mouth is flat with teeth bared, like a growling dog. I interpret that as much closer to a grimace than a grin. What's really interesting about that is that it seems like a really unlikely mistake to make. Grins bend the corners of the mouth upward, yes? Surely not many people would say no? At least in the cartoon language of emoji, I would have expected that to be universally agreed upon. That suggests to me a common cause rather than independent error. Was it a mistake that propagated through copying? Did one initial mistake become established through usage as meaning something different from the specs? Something else? It would be interesting to know the lineage of these faces and to understand where the mistake was initially made, and if perhaps it was perpetuated intentionally. None of the other emoji have misconstrual measurements anywhere close to that one, which suggests a story.

33 points by andygambles 11y ago

zeveb 11y ago

So, I've been texting a gal for awhile. I use Android; she owns an iPhone. Now I'm worried that I've been sending her the wrong signals. Whoops.

cryptoz 11y ago

[removed]

Jtsummers 11y ago
I'm not sure it's really changing, emoji gives us a tool for something many of us did in grade school when writing notes. We drew faces and other things on the messages. That experience has largely not carried over to computer/phone messaging apps. Besides, we've had smileys for ages as well. ^_^, :), :-P, D:, :-E (bucktoothed vampire), etc. have all been around for a while and predate emoji, which just give us a single character representation (and a variety, several types of smiles and frowns and sweating and crying that can be used for different things).

bdz 11y ago

Here is the paper http://grouplens.org/site-content/uploads/Emoji_Interpretation.pdf http://grouplens.org/site-content/uploads/Emoji_Interpretati...

maxerickson 11y ago

It's nice to see that comments sections are moving away from illiterate bile towards performance art.

Strilanc 11y ago

Notable error in the article. They say: > about half of the characters used on Instagram are emoji ( http://gizmodo.com/emojis-are-becoming-the-dominant-language-of-instagram-1701819068#_ga=1.199050415.1606256242.1460027476 http://gizmodo.com/emojis-are-becoming-the-dominant-language... ) but the linked article says: > As of March 2015, nearly half of all text-based communications over Instagram contained emoji. That's a huge difference in meaning.

dang 11y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11446047 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11446047

draw_down 11y ago

On the iPhone the difference between the "grimacing" emoji and the one discussed here is extremely slight (the grimacing one has circles for eyes instead of arches). The grimacing one is supposed to be the actual negative one.

vit05 11y ago

As emoji have become more popular in the corporate messages, this could be a really big problem. I usually contact my credit card operator in chat, and they always include an emoji. Sometimes I really don't understand why they send that smile that is looking as someone anxious. But know I understand better.

Dove 11y ago

When I look at the emoji they show for the "grinning face with smiling eyes", three of them strike me as being nowhere close to that description. But I am especially intrigued that the three of them all fail in the same way: the mouth is flat with teeth bared, like a growling dog. I interpret that as much closer to a grimace than a grin. What's really interesting about that is that it seems like a really unlikely mistake to make. Grins bend the corners of the mouth upward, yes? Surely not many people would say no? At least in the cartoon language of emoji, I would have expected that to be universally agreed upon. That suggests to me a common cause rather than independent error. Was it a mistake that propagated through copying? Did one initial mistake become established through usage as meaning something different from the specs? Something else? It would be interesting to know the lineage of these faces and to understand where the mistake was initially made, and if perhaps it was perpetuated intentionally. None of the other emoji have misconstrual measurements anywhere close to that one, which suggests a story.