Today, emojis are part of anyone's life on the internet. They are a simple and practical way to unify complex feelings and expressions in images supported by any app or operating system.
They're so popular that they've earned an emotive date: July 17th. The date is an allusion to the calendar emoji, displayed on WhatsApp and on iOS the date of July 17th. The number was not chosen by chance: it was the day that Apple announced the iCal calendar application for Macs in 2002.
These stickers are used anywhere in the world, regardless of language. But not all emojis are understood correctly by everyone.
Who defines which emojis appear on your phone and what they mean is the Unicode Consortium, a non-profit organization that represents important names in technology and that determines the character standard followed by the industry.
Below you can see 20 emojis found on WhatsApp that may confuse some users, and what they really mean, according to Emojipedia.
1. hand hand
Many people think that this symbol represents “faith”, “prayer”, “prayer” or some religious gesture, but the official code name is “Folded hands”. In Japanese culture, which inspired the design, this gesture means a bow to "thank you", "please" or "excuse me".
2. nose blister
Many people use this emoji to represent a cold or flu symptom, or even a sign of crying, as if the bubble were a tear. But the bubble actually comes out of the nose and not the eye. Also inspired by Japanese culture, this expression has the official name of “Sleep face”. The design appears in manga and anime to represent a sleeping character.
3. Person leaning hand
Yet another case of an emoji that can be interpreted in multiple ways because no one knows exactly what it means. The official name is “person with a tilted hand” and, according to Emojipedia, it represents a “person at the information desk”. This emoji is associated with the idea of someone offering help.
4. Hands on the head
No, this emoji does not represent a ballerina or a dancer. It's not even an "oops, I messed up" sign. It involves a person making the "OK" gesture with their body, rather than just a two finger circle.
5. Drop running down your face
It may be difficult to notice on the small screen of the cell phone, but this face is not crying. The drop runs down the side of the face and not from the eyes. The official name of this emoji is “Sad but relieved”. The gout is from sweat, not tears, and represents a stressful situation.
6. Steam coming out of the nose
The smoke coming out of this emoji's nose may seem to represent an angry person, but originally, it is not. The emoji was approved in 2010 and had the official name of “Triumph Appearance Face”, again inspired by Japanese manga. Today, the code name is “Nose Steam Face”. That is, it is an expression of triumph, not anger.
7. Demons?
It's easy to confuse these two furry red faces, right after the "angry horns" emojis, a random representation of generic demons. But they are, in fact, folk figures from Japan. Above, the ogre Namahage; and below, the Tengu goblin.
8. Twin bunny ears
The image shows two people at the head in party attire and is often used to represent friendship. These spikes are actually ears. The name of the emoji is “Bunny Ears People” and they are a reference to the famous “bunnies” from the men’s magazine Playboy.
9. “X” arms
The crossed arms forming an “X” of this emoji simply mean “no”. The gesture is used in the auditorium program “Deal or no deal”, shown in Brazil by Silvio Santos with the name “Topa ou não topa” in 2006, to represent that the participant “does not accept” the proposal made by the opponent in the game.
10. Hang Loose?
The “hang loose”, also known as “the famous Ronaldinho sign”, originates from the “shaka” sign in Hawaiian culture. But this emoji has nothing to do with that. The gesture, according to Emojipedia, represents the expression “call me”, since the fingers are shaped like a phone. The original shaka, also called the hang loose, is the same shape, but the fingers are pointed upwards. There is no official hang loose emoji yet.
11. Rock'n'roll?
These two emojis, although very similar, have very different meanings, and neither of them has to do with “rock'n'roll”. Above, the hand with closed thumb represents "the sign of the horns", according to Emojipedia. Already below, the hand with the open thumb says "I love you" in sign language.
12. OK
A gesture showing the index finger touching the thumb to make an open circle: does it refer to any part of the human body? You were wrong. It is the universal symbol of "OK", "all right" or "great".
13. One eye inside speech bubble
This is one of the most enigmatic designs in the modern emoji alphabet. Created in 2015, the image represents a campaign by Ad Council, a non-profit organization in the United States, against bullying. The sign means, according to the organization, "I am a witness".
14. Man in a suit levitating
Don't look now, but there is a man in a suit levitating on his emoji keyboard. And he even has a name: Walt Jabsco. The art is a reference to a logo for a UK ska music label in the 1970s called 2 Tone Records. The symbol was part of the Webdings font, created by Microsoft in the 1990s. The official explanation of Unicode is that the levitating man represents the shape of an exclamation point.
15. Sign of anger
Another reference that manga fans may have already noticed. This strange symbol is used in Japanese comics to represent the leaping veins on the forehead of an enraged character. That is why the emoji is called a “symbol of anger”.
16. Smoke?
Another comic book-inspired symbol that could also easily be confused with something else. The emoji above is called “Moving away” and represents the trail left by someone who has just run away from the scene. Emojipedia suggests inserting a person or a car next to the drawing to make it more meaningful.
17. Hot springs
This emoji is somewhat reminiscent of the Java logo, but has no connection to the programming language. The official name of the design says it all: “hot springs”. The symbol is very popular in Japan to represent places of “onsen” (heated baths or natural pools).
18. Cinema
The two objects above may look the same, but they are not. Above, you see an analog cinema camera; and below, a cinema projector. The first captures the film on film, the second displays the film on a large screen. That simple.
19. Trackball (and other old trinkets)
There are several emojis on the Unicode keyboard representing devices that new generations are probably unaware of. There is a pager, a floppy disk, a VHS tape and the strangest of all, a trackball: an alternative to the mouse that allows you to control a PC's cursor by rotating a sphere.
20. One hundred
It's obvious that this emoji represents the number 100, but the story behind it is a little more complex than that. The cursive spelling and the two risks below the number indicate that it is a representation of a school grade, the kind that American teachers leave on student tests. The number “100”, in this case, is equivalent to our “note 10”.
Read also:
- Clubhouse partners with TED, one of the most popular podcast platforms
- Not verified? Twitter explains what the problem is
