3 ms·

It still doesn't really tell you what it means, just the name/annotation.

nk- 10y ago
True, but it does give you a hint at least. I would have never guessed that this was a shrimp for example: http://whatmoji.com/?i=b65555fbf55380ec0970a060b2457527 http://whatmoji.com/?i=b65555fbf55380ec0970a060b2457527
- azinman2 10y ago
  Except so many of them are culturally specific, like the horn emoji on the front page has roots in postal systems (both in Japan and Europe). This page doesn't tell you that. Even this random website does a better job of giving context: http://emojipedia.org/postal-horn/ http://emojipedia.org/postal-horn/
  - sotojuan 10y ago
    Well, Emoji are originally Japanese so you always have to keep that in mind.
    - azinman2 10y ago
      The point is "what is this emoji?" Knowing emoji started in Japan still doesn't tell you what the emoji is or means!
patmcguire 10y ago
They can mean different things based on what set of renderings you're using for the same emoji... good writeup here https://eev.ee/blog/2016/04/12/apple-did-not-invent-emoji/ https://eev.ee/blog/2016/04/12/apple-did-not-invent-emoji/
- thaumasiotes 10y ago
  That essay has a good grasp of why we want unicode, but completely missed the point of why we want emoticons. If I send an image to someone, I don't want it to be rendered in an unpredictable way based on their unknown system and font choices. I need to know that they see what I intended to send. Everyone would be happier if they were embedded images; that's what we all want. They're shoehorned into unicode instead because that makes it technically easier to send them in text messages, not because they're textual objects.
  - colejohnson66 10y ago
    Technically, you don't know your text will render the same on someone else's device. For all you know, they could have their system font set to Wingdings.
    - thaumasiotes 10y ago
      I don't care about that (see my comment, "They're shoehorned into unicode instead because that makes it technically easier to send them in text messages, not because they're textual objects"). Text is grouped into several equivalence classes. I only need them to recognize any L that I send as an L. If I send a facial expression, I need to know what I'm sending. Those do not have defined equivalence classes.

nk- 10y ago

True, but it does give you a hint at least. I would have never guessed that this was a shrimp for example: http://whatmoji.com/?i=b65555fbf55380ec0970a060b2457527 http://whatmoji.com/?i=b65555fbf55380ec0970a060b2457527

azinman2 10y ago
Except so many of them are culturally specific, like the horn emoji on the front page has roots in postal systems (both in Japan and Europe). This page doesn't tell you that. Even this random website does a better job of giving context: http://emojipedia.org/postal-horn/ http://emojipedia.org/postal-horn/
- sotojuan 10y ago
  Well, Emoji are originally Japanese so you always have to keep that in mind.
  - azinman2 10y ago
    The point is "what is this emoji?" Knowing emoji started in Japan still doesn't tell you what the emoji is or means!

patmcguire 10y ago

They can mean different things based on what set of renderings you're using for the same emoji... good writeup here https://eev.ee/blog/2016/04/12/apple-did-not-invent-emoji/ https://eev.ee/blog/2016/04/12/apple-did-not-invent-emoji/

thaumasiotes 10y ago
That essay has a good grasp of why we want unicode, but completely missed the point of why we want emoticons. If I send an image to someone, I don't want it to be rendered in an unpredictable way based on their unknown system and font choices. I need to know that they see what I intended to send. Everyone would be happier if they were embedded images; that's what we all want. They're shoehorned into unicode instead because that makes it technically easier to send them in text messages, not because they're textual objects.
- colejohnson66 10y ago
  Technically, you don't know your text will render the same on someone else's device. For all you know, they could have their system font set to Wingdings.
  - thaumasiotes 10y ago
    I don't care about that (see my comment, "They're shoehorned into unicode instead because that makes it technically easier to send them in text messages, not because they're textual objects"). Text is grouped into several equivalence classes. I only need them to recognize any L that I send as an L. If I send a facial expression, I need to know what I'm sending. Those do not have defined equivalence classes.