Dickie Anderson
Emojis, small yellow smiling faces, started entering our lives 20 years ago. First, it was facial expressions, including laughing, crying, and screaming, then a variety of other images joined the inventory. Considering that more than 3,782 emojis are available is scary. There are plans to add more. The next batch of emojis will depend on what people design and submit for consideration to Unicode. Anyone can submit a proposal to add a new emoji. Unicode requires a prototype of the emoji, an explanation of how and why people would use it, and what its addition would mean for the greater emoji language.
The word emoji is derived from three Japanese words: "e" for picture, "mo" for write, and "ji" for character. It all began in 1999 when Shigetaka Kurita created the first 176 emojis for his company's email system. In 2010, Unicode programmers adopted the concept, eventually creating a worldwide phenomenon. Things really got going when Apple included an official emoji keyboard in their 2011 IOS. Linguists have been fascinated by the emoji and consider it the first truly universal language.
Before emojis, there were emoticons. Facial expressions are made with punctuation marks. The first emoticons appeared in 1981 in Puck magazine. Four faces were created conveying joy, melancholy, indifference, and astonishment and were called “typographical art.” They were limited and were soon replaced by emojis.
So why emojis? I didn't think much of them when they first appeared in my emails. They were like the Xs and Os we put in our letters as teenagers. First, they were either smiley faces or sad faces. As they evolved, they offered a chance to add emotion to a message. A seemingly harsh message can be softened and clarified with one of the many faces offering a variety of expressions. At first, I resisted the emoji phenomena and was irritated when I received email messages with the little yellow tennis ball heads. Flash forward, and I now appreciate the little extra to certain emails I receive or send. A happy birthday message with the birthday cake emoji has a little more pizazz. A message about a pet is made special with a paw print or even a small cat or dog. I am not alone; it is estimated that 92% of all people online use emojis. On Instagram, nearly half of the posts contain emojis.
There was even a movie. The “Emoji Movie” was released in 2017. The popular smiling faces did not do well in the theater, scoring 7% on Rotten Tomatoes. Although it was a financial success, it received negative reviews. It was so bad it was nominated for five awards at the 38th Golden Raspberry Awards. The worst films of the year are recognized each year before the Academy Awards. It is the first film to win worst film in all categories and was recognized as the worst film of 2017.
In today's world of quick communication and smart watches, emojis allow a fast response with a single emoji. A simple thumbs-up emoji is a popular response to a question. Emojis are here to stay, adding enhancement options to our evolving communication.
Dickie Anderson's books can be found at Island Book and Gift stores. Her paintings can be seen at the Plantation Artist's Guild and Gallery (PAGG). She can be reached at dickie.anderson@gmail.com