Reverse emoji, please
As it turns out, what I perceived as a sudden increase in the
use of emojis by my family members, happens to be a widely spread habit, now even affecting my work Whatsapp group. Some may say emojis are the natural evolution
of smileys, which are nothing but virtual representation of what’s happening on
our face. But I need to get something off my chest, and there is no emoji for
that.
I thought I drew the line when my mother messaged me a series of seemingly random emojis spanning from cat paws to sunflower. Truth be told, I knew exactly what she meant, and have now fully embraced her hieroglyphic style. Or should I call it emojlyphic?
Answering with emojis in a work related Whatsapp thread is more tricky, there need to be some rules set into place:
Rule number one: never be the first one to use an emoji.
Rule number two: if you really have to, pick somethingneutral such as smiley face or cup of coffee.
I noticed that refraining from using emojis is getting harder and harder, especially since your ‘smart’phone actually attempts to auto-correct a word with the corresponding emoji.
Note to my phone: when I type ‘invite India’ I don’t mean to add the flag of a Country! They won’t all fit into a room. Also she is not from India, that flag doesn’t represent her. I could barely identify the flag of India out of that selection, why is my phone making things harder?
So I had a look at all the emojis available on Whatsapp and, boy, was I speechless. Mainly because I don’t know the words to describe half of them, and I cannot foresee a situation where someone would use an alchemy emoji, or a cricket emoji.
After the India accident, I came to the conclusion a real ‘smart’phone should do the opposite of suggesting an emoji from a word. It should revert-emojis into words, and if there ever will be such a thing, my nerd soul will truly be happy with technology.
Imagine a phone that, when you select an emoji, will auto-correct and give you three worded options. Smiley emoji? Perhaps you meant 'I am happy about that' or 'This makes me smile' or 'I am glad to hear that'. Facepalm emoji? 'Oh, not again' or 'I can't believe it' or Why is this happening?!'.
Also, should you use something less mainstream, the auto-correct will adapt to the vibe. 'Wicked' when you use the genie emoji, or 'Huzzah!' when you choose the crown, 'I really don't know what else to say' when one of the monkeys come into play.
Think about all the reading between the lines and misunderstanding that could happen when smiling face gets substitute for winking face, or the laughing face gets swapped unintentionally for a face that's laughing too much. are you laughing because I said something funny or are you laughing at me? The answer is in the words: 'That's so funny!' as opposed to 'Rolling on the floor laughing. Classic you!'
Words will save the world.
Image: via
I thought I drew the line when my mother messaged me a series of seemingly random emojis spanning from cat paws to sunflower. Truth be told, I knew exactly what she meant, and have now fully embraced her hieroglyphic style. Or should I call it emojlyphic?
Answering with emojis in a work related Whatsapp thread is more tricky, there need to be some rules set into place:
Rule number one: never be the first one to use an emoji.
Rule number two: if you really have to, pick somethingneutral such as smiley face or cup of coffee.
I noticed that refraining from using emojis is getting harder and harder, especially since your ‘smart’phone actually attempts to auto-correct a word with the corresponding emoji.
Note to my phone: when I type ‘invite India’ I don’t mean to add the flag of a Country! They won’t all fit into a room. Also she is not from India, that flag doesn’t represent her. I could barely identify the flag of India out of that selection, why is my phone making things harder?
So I had a look at all the emojis available on Whatsapp and, boy, was I speechless. Mainly because I don’t know the words to describe half of them, and I cannot foresee a situation where someone would use an alchemy emoji, or a cricket emoji.
After the India accident, I came to the conclusion a real ‘smart’phone should do the opposite of suggesting an emoji from a word. It should revert-emojis into words, and if there ever will be such a thing, my nerd soul will truly be happy with technology.
Imagine a phone that, when you select an emoji, will auto-correct and give you three worded options. Smiley emoji? Perhaps you meant 'I am happy about that' or 'This makes me smile' or 'I am glad to hear that'. Facepalm emoji? 'Oh, not again' or 'I can't believe it' or Why is this happening?!'.
Also, should you use something less mainstream, the auto-correct will adapt to the vibe. 'Wicked' when you use the genie emoji, or 'Huzzah!' when you choose the crown, 'I really don't know what else to say' when one of the monkeys come into play.
Think about all the reading between the lines and misunderstanding that could happen when smiling face gets substitute for winking face, or the laughing face gets swapped unintentionally for a face that's laughing too much. are you laughing because I said something funny or are you laughing at me? The answer is in the words: 'That's so funny!' as opposed to 'Rolling on the floor laughing. Classic you!'
Words will save the world.
Image: via
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