A post from Shady Characters

Emoji, part 5: a trending topic

This is the fifth in a series of thirteen posts on Emoji (šŸ˜‚). Start at PART 1, continue to PART 6 or view ALL POSTS in the series.


So far in this series weā€™ve seen how emoji were created in Japan, how they made their way into the wider world, and who takes responsibility for them now theyā€™re free to range across our screens. Aside from mentions in a few tech news outlets, however, emojiā€™s early life went largely unreported. The mainstream media prefers a juicier drama and, in this article, weā€™ll take a look at some of the stories that have seen emoji riding high ā€” and low ā€” in the press.


5 comments on “Emoji, part 5: a trending topic

  1. Comment posted by Bill M on

    Thanks for the fine series on the emjoi. Iā€™ve always looked at these as a bit of non-sensical clutter although I have used a few. I never knew how, where, or when they were developed. I thought they started as a play on the ascii generated characters and expanded to living color.

    Nice work and all 5 parts are an interesting read.

    Have a Great 2019!

    1. Comment posted by Keith Houston on

      Hi Bill — thanks for the comment. I’m glad you’re enjoying the emoji articles, and there are more to come!

  2. Comment posted by Steve on

    I enjoyed the series very much. However, I will not be using any emojis to indicate how much I enjoyed it. Sorry, Iā€™m just old school. Thanks.

    1. Comment posted by Keith Houston on

      Hi Steve — thanks for the comment! No emoji necessary.

  3. Comment posted by Garth on

    The Duke University researchers could only trace back the aubergine as stand-in for “penis” to 2011 because they were looking at the wrong language! They’ve been a phallic symbol in Japan for a long time.

    For all the media hype about emoji being a new “universal language”, this is the only example I can think of of cultural connotations making that sort of jump with an emoji; it’s more common for emoji to pick up entirely different connotations (and sometimes even denotations, in the case of the INFORMATION DESK PERSON being reinterpreted in the West as “sassy hair-flip” instead of “helpfully presenting information”).

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