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The meanings of emotion words seem to drift over time. Consider gay, nice, silly, amazed, naughty, enthusiastic. They can mislead people reading older books. I
by tlb 9y ago
The meanings of emotion words seem to drift over time. Consider gay, nice, silly, amazed, naughty, enthusiastic. They can mislead people reading older books. I wonder if the meaning of emoji will drift more or less over time.
- Retra 9y agoProbably, but the meaning hits such a wide target, it will probably take longer for the original meaning to be lost through normal usage. There could be dramatic shifts if people start using specific emoji to carry highly idiomatic meaning.
- tlb 9y agoTo pick the one they used in the article (:nerd-face:), it has buck teeth and glasses. Buck teeth and glasses may be virtually unknown in 100 years, due to lasik surgery and orthodontics. That symbol might suggest retro-hipster. Thus, my theory the meaning of emoji might drift less over time than words is a :pile of poo:.
- qubex 9y agoA pet peeve of mine is the contemporary usage of ’incredible’, taken to be roughly synonymous with ’amazing’, while its actually shares a root with incredulous, and literally implies that what has been conveyed cannot be believed. An ”incredible story” is not one that is astonishing, but one that cannot be taken as factual.