[Ads-l] emojis

[Brian Hitchcock]

This is exactly why some people (including me) believe that an emoji is not a "word" (and thus should not be WOTY!!)
Emojis barely qualify as symbols.  They are gestures, which are open to WIDE variations in interpretation, even by users of the same language.

Someday, they might settle into a standard or preferred or generally accepted meaning, but not yet. And that, I suppose, is part of their allure.  Instead of trying to explain emotions in a semi-literate, less-than-descriptive vocabulary, one can insert ambiguous symbols instead.

But might as well nominate the  "hang loose" gesture (shaka sign) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka_sign  
for WOTY. It has a better understood meaning, and it generally does not require further explanation, or cause confusion, unlike the emoji studied in Victor's link. It is clear communication, but not a "word".

As for clarifying the negative/positive scale (which is ambiguous with most emojis): George Orwell did better with Newspeak, while similarly dumbing down communication:  double-plus ungood, plus ungood,  good, plus good, double-plus good. 

---------------------------
Victor Steinbok wrote:
Subject: Study shows widely different interpretations of emojis

Semiotics at work...

http://goo.gl/jue7lG



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