#emojis — Public Fediverse posts

@ancientsounds In the case of emojis, we have a fixed inventory so it’s actually easier. If your corpus is large enough (like the over 2 billion tweets we used), it will be clear which emojis occur the least, and it’s not (only) the newest ones! The WhatsApp corpus is much smaller, so it won’t really work there.
It’s funny that you also can’t really ask people “Which emojis do you use the least” because we definitely don’t have any awareness of that 😅 #emojis #linguistics

@ancientsounds In the case of emojis, we have a fixed inventory so it’s actually easier. If your corpus is large enough (like the over 2 billion tweets we used), it will be clear which emojis occur the least, and it’s not (only) the newest ones! The WhatsApp corpus is much smaller, so it won’t really work there.
It’s funny that you also can’t really ask people “Which emojis do you use the least” because we definitely don’t have any awareness of that 😅 #emojis #linguistics

As this thread is slowing down (but feel free to keep the questions coming), this is also a great time to plug the public "Linguistics of Emojis" Zotero library, which we maintain. Over 300 scientific works on the linguistics of emojis - check it out! 🤓 #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay https://www.zotero.org/groups/2613859/linguistics_of_emojis/library

As this thread is slowing down (but feel free to keep the questions coming), this is also a great time to plug the public "Linguistics of Emojis" Zotero library, which we maintain. Over 300 scientific works on the linguistics of emojis - check it out! 🤓 #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay https://www.zotero.org/groups/2613859/linguistics_of_emojis/library

@ricci Yes, the default (not neutral) yellow skin tone is read as white. This can also be seen in cartoons like the Simpsons, where all characters are yellow except for (initially just) Apu.
There are some great studies by (Robertson et al. 2018, 2020, ...) on emoji skin tones. They compared New York City with London and Johannesburg - everywhere non-white people used skin tone modifiers the most. That's also how they showed that most users employ the skin tone modifiers to closely reflect their own skin tone - with some variations which they can explain, for example to better match hair color as well or because the darkest emoji skin tone washes out the facial features of many emojis (so is dispreferred). #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay https://doi.org/10.1145/3377479

@ricci Yes, the default (not neutral) yellow skin tone is read as white. This can also be seen in cartoons like the Simpsons, where all characters are yellow except for (initially just) Apu.
There are some great studies by (Robertson et al. 2018, 2020, ...) on emoji skin tones. They compared New York City with London and Johannesburg - everywhere non-white people used skin tone modifiers the most. That's also how they showed that most users employ the skin tone modifiers to closely reflect their own skin tone - with some variations which they can explain, for example to better match hair color as well or because the darkest emoji skin tone washes out the facial features of many emojis (so is dispreferred). #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay https://doi.org/10.1145/3377479

"Are there any other examples of written notations for body language?
I'm aware of "dance notation", which is roughly in the same direction, I suppose." - I didn't know dance notation, will have to look into it!
There is an increasing amount of work in #linguistics on gesture, and there are some inventories of #gesture based on basic components like location, hand and finger configuration, movement. We have a research cluster on Visual Communcation where we investigate the commonalities between visual forms of communication such as emojis, gestures, and sign language: @vicom
Sign language of course has notational forms as well, and in this dictionary of German Sign Language, signs can be searched by location, hand form, etc.: https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/korpusdict/overview/index-dgs.html #emojis #WorldEmojiDay

"Are there any other examples of written notations for body language?
I'm aware of "dance notation", which is roughly in the same direction, I suppose." - I didn't know dance notation, will have to look into it!
There is an increasing amount of work in #linguistics on gesture, and there are some inventories of #gesture based on basic components like location, hand and finger configuration, movement. We have a research cluster on Visual Communcation where we investigate the commonalities between visual forms of communication such as emojis, gestures, and sign language: @vicom
Sign language of course has notational forms as well, and in this dictionary of German Sign Language, signs can be searched by location, hand form, etc.: https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/korpusdict/overview/index-dgs.html #emojis #WorldEmojiDay

Actually, should the plural be "emoji" or "emojis" ?? 😵‍💫 - Both are used frequently! I think "emoji" reminds us of other loan words that end in "-i" in the plural, like "celli" or "radii" or "tori" or all the pastas. That's why many people feel that "emoji" is plural enough 😅 . But the word is from Japanese, and is called "emoji" in the singular, from "e" = picture and "moji" = character. (In contrast to "emot-icon", the word "emoji" doesn't have anything to do with emotion!) So my vote is for the regular English plural "-s", yielding "emojis" ✅ #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay

Actually, should the plural be "emoji" or "emojis" ?? 😵‍💫 - Both are used frequently! I think "emoji" reminds us of other loan words that end in "-i" in the plural, like "celli" or "radii" or "tori" or all the pastas. That's why many people feel that "emoji" is plural enough 😅 . But the word is from Japanese, and is called "emoji" in the singular, from "e" = picture and "moji" = character. (In contrast to "emot-icon", the word "emoji" doesn't have anything to do with emotion!) So my vote is for the regular English plural "-s", yielding "emojis" ✅ #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay

Another famous case is the grimacing face 😬 (which I personally like a lot). Initially its design varied widely between platforms: It looked like a toothy (but happy) grin 😁 on some platforms, but like the pained grimace on others - so there was a lot of potential for misunderstanding. In such a case, the design is then usually adapted in a later version to get a better match with other platforms. #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay

Another famous case is the grimacing face 😬 (which I personally like a lot). Initially its design varied widely between platforms: It looked like a toothy (but happy) grin 😁 on some platforms, but like the pained grimace on others - so there was a lot of potential for misunderstanding. In such a case, the design is then usually adapted in a later version to get a better match with other platforms. #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay

"Some designs of emojis are very different for the same codepoint, especially the ones depicting emotions/reactions. Examples coming to mind are 😨, 🔫. What are your thoughts on this?" - The (water) pistol 🔫 was originally a hand gun which looked a lot more real. In response to its frequent use in criminal or other unsavory contexts (e.g., as a threat), most platforms replaced it with the colorful plastic toy gun design in 2018. (In 2024, Elon Musk had it turned back into a realistic hand gun for the Twemoji design 🙄)
I'm torn. On the one hand, I don't think we can stay on top of all potential uses of emojis (or should even try to limit them) and people who want to use emojis for threats probably can still do so. On the other hand, I do find it rather hard to imagine that the green plastic 🔫 could be used as a threat... so... I guess good job, designers/tech firms? #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay
https://emojipedia.org/pistol#designs

"Some designs of emojis are very different for the same codepoint, especially the ones depicting emotions/reactions. Examples coming to mind are 😨, 🔫. What are your thoughts on this?" - The (water) pistol 🔫 was originally a hand gun which looked a lot more real. In response to its frequent use in criminal or other unsavory contexts (e.g., as a threat), most platforms replaced it with the colorful plastic toy gun design in 2018. (In 2024, Elon Musk had it turned back into a realistic hand gun for the Twemoji design 🙄)
I'm torn. On the one hand, I don't think we can stay on top of all potential uses of emojis (or should even try to limit them) and people who want to use emojis for threats probably can still do so. On the other hand, I do find it rather hard to imagine that the green plastic 🔫 could be used as a threat... so... I guess good job, designers/tech firms? #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay
https://emojipedia.org/pistol#designs

“Do you think emojis will ever become part of formal language? Are we going to see emojis in laws or letters from the pension fund?” - Emojis are mainly used in informal language, because (or that’s why?) one of their main functions is to signal closeness, familiarity and a lack of hierarchy between the conversation participants. This is also the reason why a lack of emojis from a personal chat message may trigger questions like “what have I done?!”, because it could signal that the friendly relationship is disturbed. So I think emojis wouldn’t be used in legal code. But in official letters, maybe! I once received an email from a university administrator with a ☺️ and I appreciated it a lot.
#emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay

“Do you think emojis will ever become part of formal language? Are we going to see emojis in laws or letters from the pension fund?” - Emojis are mainly used in informal language, because (or that’s why?) one of their main functions is to signal closeness, familiarity and a lack of hierarchy between the conversation participants. This is also the reason why a lack of emojis from a personal chat message may trigger questions like “what have I done?!”, because it could signal that the friendly relationship is disturbed. So I think emojis wouldn’t be used in legal code. But in official letters, maybe! I once received an email from a university administrator with a ☺️ and I appreciated it a lot.
#emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay

“If you were an emoji, what emoji would you be?” - Hm, I think I’d pick 👩‍💻 because that represents how I spend my days the best.
Representation and diversity is an important topic when it comes to emojis. Studies show that the skin tone modifiers 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏿‍♀️ are primarily used for self representation. And many groups had to fight for their emojis: hijabi women, people with disabilities, redheads, people with curly hair. It is still difficult to show “all” of society in emojis, because human diversity is much more variable than we can show in little pictures: Where I can just say “family” in English and may mean many different constellations, in an emoji I’d have to decide on the number, gender and skin color of all the family members, and that doesn’t even begin to cover all the facets. A real language is much more flexible that way. #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay

“If you were an emoji, what emoji would you be?” - Hm, I think I’d pick 👩‍💻 because that represents how I spend my days the best.
Representation and diversity is an important topic when it comes to emojis. Studies show that the skin tone modifiers 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏿‍♀️ are primarily used for self representation. And many groups had to fight for their emojis: hijabi women, people with disabilities, redheads, people with curly hair. It is still difficult to show “all” of society in emojis, because human diversity is much more variable than we can show in little pictures: Where I can just say “family” in English and may mean many different constellations, in an emoji I’d have to decide on the number, gender and skin color of all the family members, and that doesn’t even begin to cover all the facets. A real language is much more flexible that way. #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay

"is there (still) a lot of use of "signage" emojis like 🏪 or even more abstract 🛅?" - These complex ones are not so frequently used. BUT emojis are often used for signs in real life (= meat world, not digitally). I have a huge collection of photos I put together with the help of students. I think emojis are particularly good for this because such signs are often about rules, what we're not allowed to do or supposed to do. And emojis "soften" this face-threat (being told what to do) a bit, by being cute and colorful and generally perceived as positive. #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay

Is emoji interpretation just a "fun" summer topic, or does emoji misinterpretation ever become serious, like in court discussions? - In face there have been several cases both in North America and Europe where emoji meanings were negotiated in court! I keep a collection of them because it's a nice intersection with my alter ego, the "forensic" linguist. For example, in cases from Canada and Bavaria, judges had to decide whether a thumbs-up 👍 in a chat was meant as a signal of agreement (to a contract or contract amendment), or whether (like the senders argued) it constituted only an acknowledgement of receipt of the message. In both cases, the context was super important - how did the parties interact before, what else was said in the chat, etc. Interesting! #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay

Does being an emoji researcher make me more wary to use them - like am I watching my emoji use all the time? - I'd say the opposite is true, I feel more free and whimsical in using emojis, as I see them all the time in different contexts, and I can easily pretend to just use them ironically or "for work" 🤩 #emojis #linguistics #worldEmojiDay

"Do you know of any unexpected pattern of emoji usage? For example I'd expect younger folks to use emoji more than older folks and private communication to use it more than business... But maybe my assumptions are wrong or there is something else interesting?" - Yes generally our studies show that younger ppl use emojis more than older (and women a bit more than men). But in class with my undergraduates, they recently often tell me "I don't use emojis at all". I must say I don't fully believe them (maybe they don't even notice all the little hearts anymore?) and I haven't been able to show this in studies, but it's an interesting anecdotal data point I'd like to know more about!
Also, a student of mine recently asked teenagers (13 and 16yos) about their emoji interpretations. And surprisingly to us, these almost entirely match the data we already have for adults. Even for some like 🙃 and 😉 that I thought were changing (and just told you that younger people see them differently 😬). So that was a bit weird to me 😅 #emojis #WorldEmojiDay #linguistics

Do young and old people interpret (or use) emojis differently? - Yes, to some extent. Actually with most emojis we see a huge overlap in interpretation and also use. But there are some frequent emojis which are, on average, interpreted differently by older and younger people in our studies. For example, the slighly smiling face 🙂 and its upside down variant 🙃 are seen as more positive by older participants, while the little dot-eyes are seen as cold and not authentic ("psychopath eyes") by younger people. Similarly, the winking smiley 😉 is used by the older group to mark any jokes or fun (similarly to the original ;-) emoticon), and younger people find it often completely inappropriate and sexually suggestive #emojis #WorldEmojiDay #linguistics

Welt-Emoji-Tag
Emojis haben die schriftliche Kommunikation kaputt gemacht. Kaum etwas wird so oft entweder falsch, unangebracht oder mehrdeutig verwendet wie die kleinen Smilies u.a. Icons (Kackhaufen-Schokopudding etc.). Also wird es Zeit, mit Emojis in die echte Welt zu gehen und dort für Missverständnisse zu sorgen.

https://amichan.de/2026/07/17/welt-emoji-tag/

#amichan #ami #mizuno #sailormercury #sailormerkur #wallpaper #windowshintergrundbild #emojis

Via #LLRX @psuPete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, April 11, 2026. Five highlights from this week: As the Federal #Government Rushes Toward #AI, Here Are Three Cautionary Tales; Combating #cybercrime and #fraud: A unified approach; #Signal messages on an iPhone have been harvested despite app security; #Anthropic Says Its Latest AI Model Is Too Powerful to Be Released; and #Cybersecurity Alert: #Criminals Are Now Using #Emojis to Avoid Detection. https://www.llrx.com/2026/04/pete-recommends-weekly-highlights-on-cyber-security-issues-april-11-2026/

Via #LLRX @psuPete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, April 11, 2026. Five highlights from this week: As the Federal #Government Rushes Toward #AI, Here Are Three Cautionary Tales; Combating #cybercrime and #fraud: A unified approach; #Signal messages on an iPhone have been harvested despite app security; #Anthropic Says Its Latest AI Model Is Too Powerful to Be Released; and #Cybersecurity Alert: #Criminals Are Now Using #Emojis to Avoid Detection. https://www.llrx.com/2026/04/pete-recommends-weekly-highlights-on-cyber-security-issues-april-11-2026/

I think that work emails should be limited to -- at most -- one emoji.

Choose wisely.

#work #workculture #email #emails #emoji #emojis #rules #LifeRule #liferules

I think that work emails should be limited to -- at most -- one emoji.

Choose wisely.

#work #workculture #email #emails #emoji #emojis #rules #LifeRule #liferules

Call for papers 👀 🧪
🤩 THE EMOJI WORKSHOP 🤩 to take place August 29 2025, University of Oslo

**Abstract submission deadline: May 16**

The workshop will be accompanied by a panel discussion on ‘Emoji meaning: stability and variation’

Full CfP and more info: https://www.hf.uio.no/iln/english/research/groups/super-linguistics/events/the-emoji-workshop.html
#emojis #emoji #linguistics #callForAbstracts

Call for papers 👀 🧪
🤩 THE EMOJI WORKSHOP 🤩 to take place August 29 2025, University of Oslo

**Abstract submission deadline: May 16**

The workshop will be accompanied by a panel discussion on ‘Emoji meaning: stability and variation’

Full CfP and more info: https://www.hf.uio.no/iln/english/research/groups/super-linguistics/events/the-emoji-workshop.html
#emojis #emoji #linguistics #callForAbstracts

§ #Emoji #Emojis #NuevoEmoji #NuevosEmojis

:aboriginal: :boostplease: :fx: :jaguar: :legoblue: :legogreen: :legoorange: :legopink: :legoyellow: :lion: :nvred: :ohno: :paws: :pelican: :tb:

#Aborigen #Aborígenes #Adherir #Adhesión #Adhesiones #Firefox #MozillaFirefox #Jaguar #Lego #LadrilloLego #LadrillosLego #León #NoVerificado #Verificado #Insignia #Insignias #OhNo #Garras #Pelícano #Thunderbird #MozillaThunderbird

§ #Emoji #Emojis #NuevoEmoji #NuevosEmojis

:aboriginal: :boostplease: :fx: :jaguar: :legoblue: :legogreen: :legoorange: :legopink: :legoyellow: :lion: :nvred: :ohno: :paws: :pelican: :tb:

#Aborigen #Aborígenes #Adherir #Adhesión #Adhesiones #Firefox #MozillaFirefox #Jaguar #Lego #LadrilloLego #LadrillosLego #León #NoVerificado #Verificado #Insignia #Insignias #OhNo #Garras #Pelícano #Thunderbird #MozillaThunderbird

§ #Emoji #Emojis #NuevoEmoji #NuevosEmojis

:aboriginal: :boostplease: :fx: :jaguar: :legoblue: :legogreen: :legoorange: :legopink: :legoyellow: :lion: :nvred: :ohno: :paws: :pelican: :tb:

#Aborigen #Aborígenes #Adherir #Adhesión #Adhesiones #Firefox #MozillaFirefox #Jaguar #Lego #LadrilloLego #LadrillosLego #León #NoVerificado #Verificado #Insignia #Insignias #OhNo #Garras #Pelícano #Thunderbird #MozillaThunderbird

macOS Ventura 13.4 Beta 1 verfügbar
macOS Ventura 13.4 Beta , ist nun für alle registrierten Entwickler:innen verfügbar. Nachdem am Montag eine Reihe von öffentlichen Software-Updates veröffentlicht wurde, hat Apple beschlossen, neue Beta-Versionen für Entwickler bereitzustellen.
Einfa
https://www.apfeltalk.de/magazin/news/macos-ventura-13-4-beta-1-verfuegbar/
#Mac #News #AppleDeveloperProgram #Beta1Update #Emojis #macOSVentura13.4 #Neuerungen #öffentlicheBeta-Version #Software-Update

macOS Ventura 13.4 Beta 1 verfügbar
macOS Ventura 13.4 Beta , ist nun für alle registrierten Entwickler:innen verfügbar. Nachdem am Montag eine Reihe von öffentlichen Software-Updates veröffentlicht wurde, hat Apple beschlossen, neue Beta-Versionen für Entwickler bereitzustellen.
Einfa
https://www.apfeltalk.de/magazin/news/macos-ventura-13-4-beta-1-verfuegbar/
#Mac #News #AppleDeveloperProgram #Beta1Update #Emojis #macOSVentura13.4 #Neuerungen #öffentlicheBeta-Version #Software-Update

macOS Ventura 13.4 Beta 1 verfügbar
macOS Ventura 13.4 Beta , ist nun für alle registrierten Entwickler:innen verfügbar. Nachdem am Montag eine Reihe von öffentlichen Software-Updates veröffentlicht wurde, hat Apple beschlossen, neue Beta-Versionen für Entwickler bereitzustellen.
Einfa
https://www.apfeltalk.de/magazin/news/macos-ventura-13-4-beta-1-verfuegbar/
#Mac #News #AppleDeveloperProgram #Beta1Update #Emojis #macOSVentura13.4 #Neuerungen #öffentlicheBeta-Version #Software-Update

Aus dem Maschinenraum: Unser #Terminfinder #Nuudel funktioniert jetzt endlich auch dann, wenn ein Mensch auf die Idee kommt, beim Anlegen einer Umfrage #Emojis zu verwenden (oder Linear B oder Altpersisch oder andere Unicode-Zeichen, die als UTF-8 vier Bytes lang sind).

Falls jemand eine #Framadate-Instanz kennt, die dasselbe Problem hat – hier steht, wie wir das Problem gelöst haben: https://framagit.org/framasoft/framadate/framadate/-/issues/536#note_1834810

Nuudel ist einer von mehreren trackingfreien Diensten, die wir für die Allgemeinheit anbieten. Wir nennen es #SwarmSupport: https://digitalcourage.de/swarm-support

Aus dem Maschinenraum: Unser #Terminfinder #Nuudel funktioniert jetzt endlich auch dann, wenn ein Mensch auf die Idee kommt, beim Anlegen einer Umfrage #Emojis zu verwenden (oder Linear B oder Altpersisch oder andere Unicode-Zeichen, die als UTF-8 vier Bytes lang sind).

Falls jemand eine #Framadate-Instanz kennt, die dasselbe Problem hat – hier steht, wie wir das Problem gelöst haben: https://framagit.org/framasoft/framadate/framadate/-/issues/536#note_1834810

Nuudel ist einer von mehreren trackingfreien Diensten, die wir für die Allgemeinheit anbieten. Wir nennen es #SwarmSupport: https://digitalcourage.de/swarm-support