1,57,439,872. That is the number of smileys being used as you sit reading this. One balmy afternoon in Tokyo, Shigetaka Kurito sat plodding away on his computer, silently creating history. Little did he realise that the battery of seemingly ridiculous, infantile yellow cartoons he was coding was soon going to be used by the world in ginormous proportions.
Emoji, as they soon came to be called, appear to be a throwback to our times of communicating through pictograms and hieroglyphics. As we sit immersed in our little world of phones, these surrogate faces give expression to our emotions as we talk to each other through screens and say the most important things via text messages.
So is the emoji only for the emotionally stunted, the wallflowers and the inarticulate? I think not. We all use emoji when it is convenient. Research states that giving the smiley strong competition is the heart symbol. Love is indeed blossoming everywhere.
However, I strongly believe the grinning face emoticon cannot be far behind. With its half-shut eyes and sheepish grin, this little face is often used when we have said something embarrassing, when we brag about ourselves but don’t want to sound too boastful, when we post mushy pictures on
Facebook and dread being the object of ridicule amongst our friends.
The grinning face is a face-saver, an excuse for any sort of action. You can text your friend that she looks like a little tomato in that red dress, add the grin and she will probably think you are being funny. Truth sugar-coated as cute always works.
Emoji soften our emotions and thus, have been the greatest invention in recent times, saving fights, averting miscommunication and making everything light-hearted. They are also very popular among the youth, especially while flirting or engaging in sexual banter. Emoji-sexting may be juvenile but it does take the stigma out and allows people to converse with ease, without any moral implications hounding their minds.
Apparently, women use emoji more often than men, corroborating the popular perception that we women are more volatile beings. But a handful of men do find these emoticons handy, especially when they want to apologise. “Girls never seem to be satisfied with just a sorry, so I add a string of hearts, throw in a couple of teary-eyed faces and factor in the feel- goodness,” one of my friends says. I frantically rummaged through the keyboard to send him a middle finger emoticon (it is time we got one!).
For a long time, I was probably judgemental too, labelling guys who used emoji excessively as effeminate. But perhaps more than effeminate, my grouse should have been that emoji is now a form of escapism, a tool to hide the real emotions. When we have nothing to say but want to be polite, we reply with a smiley. When a friend sends what is the hundredth picture of her baby, and we are mentally exhausted of using the word ‘cute’, we add a few kissing smileys and rest in peace. Last heard, the ISIS is using the emoji to sound warm!
Emoji have evolved over the years into not only a language but also a full-time hobby for some people who translate popular songs like Beyonce’s ‘Drunk in Love’ and books such as the ‘Moby-Dick’ into pages of these graphics. If you want to get a detailed report on your social well-being, emojianalysis.com can do a quiet interpretation for you.
Old souls who have no clue if the two hands emoji is clapping, praying or saying ‘Oh god leave me alone’ can visit emojipedia.com. It will educate you that it is a high five.
Nevertheless, emoji are fun, now that all our phones are socially inclusive, and offer an interesting palette to choose from — from skin colour to sexual orientation. There are three types of kissing faces, (denoting different relationships? Beats me), dancing girl, funny cats, a yummy chicken leg and even a pile of smiling poop, which I believe is a symbol of luck for the Japanese! Well, one only hopes that these faces continue to augment our communication and do not replace words entirely!
The author blogs at www.awakeningthelotuseater.blogspot.in