"Use your words. I’m a big fan of using your words.”
April 4, 2015 7:49 AM Subscribe
Should Grown Men Use Emoji? Word-centric fuddy-duddies see the decline of literacy reflected in their heart-shaped eyes, while guardians of decorum lament the spread of greasy kid stuff dripping from the characters’ snail trails. (👈)
I use emoji, but I draw the line at txtspk.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 7:55 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by PeterMcDermott at 7:55 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I should use my words? Or I should use his words? Because this looks like 💩 to me.
Esquire: Does Anybody Really Care if Grown Men Use Emoji? - And why are we asking this question in the first place?
Good Men Project: Emoji and the Policing of Masculinity
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:58 AM on April 4, 2015 [12 favorites]
Esquire: Does Anybody Really Care if Grown Men Use Emoji? - And why are we asking this question in the first place?
Good Men Project: Emoji and the Policing of Masculinity
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:58 AM on April 4, 2015 [12 favorites]
If grown men aren't supposed to use emoji, then why do they provide such important business ones like 📊 and 📈 and 📉? Or give us the ability to discuss such important issues as separation of ⛪️and 🇺🇸? Orwhat about all the adult beverages:🍺🍻🍸🍷? And of course there's always 🍆.
Come on 📰 answer the important ❓❓❓.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:00 AM on April 4, 2015 [60 favorites]
Come on 📰 answer the important ❓❓❓.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:00 AM on April 4, 2015 [60 favorites]
Nope. I'm out. There is only so many emoji I can handle at one time.
posted by AlexiaSky at 8:03 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by AlexiaSky at 8:03 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Should Grown Men (or anyone, really) Read the New York Times Style Section?
posted by Sys Rq at 8:04 AM on April 4, 2015 [38 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 8:04 AM on April 4, 2015 [38 favorites]
I don't think anyone should use emojis.
posted by Aranquis at 8:09 AM on April 4, 2015 [26 favorites]
posted by Aranquis at 8:09 AM on April 4, 2015 [26 favorites]
Because of an unholy curse, every time you use an emoji, a word disappears from the Oxford Dictionary forever.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:11 AM on April 4, 2015 [36 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:11 AM on April 4, 2015 [36 favorites]
This is how the alphabet was invented. Men were far too manly to use logograms.
posted by Thing at 8:11 AM on April 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by Thing at 8:11 AM on April 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
metafilter's own naju wrote a pretty great poem about this on twitter
posted by Juliet Banana at 8:15 AM on April 4, 2015 [21 favorites]
posted by Juliet Banana at 8:15 AM on April 4, 2015 [21 favorites]
Is this the literary version of Russel Crowe "encouraging" actresses to act in their age bracket?
If you are on someone's clock, you had better be on their page. Decorum varies wildly. Some offices require an interest in, and an ability tp play, ping pong. The social terrain stratifies, and the communication divide between generations, grows happily on one side of The Great Wall of Tech.
Men of a certain age, and possibly as many as three generations, are expected to be fluent in emoji. Beyond this it becomes the intimate register of language used with one's own children or friends. Outside of this the creep factor sets in.
posted by Oyéah at 8:17 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
If you are on someone's clock, you had better be on their page. Decorum varies wildly. Some offices require an interest in, and an ability tp play, ping pong. The social terrain stratifies, and the communication divide between generations, grows happily on one side of The Great Wall of Tech.
Men of a certain age, and possibly as many as three generations, are expected to be fluent in emoji. Beyond this it becomes the intimate register of language used with one's own children or friends. Outside of this the creep factor sets in.
posted by Oyéah at 8:17 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
> Word-centric fuddy-duddies see...
What a stupid article. I guess this is the NYT equivalent of Fox segments where the host starts off with "SOME PEOPLE say..."
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:18 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
What a stupid article. I guess this is the NYT equivalent of Fox segments where the host starts off with "SOME PEOPLE say..."
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:18 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Anyone should be satisfied with smiley face, crazy smiley face, winky face, and frown.
posted by pan at 8:18 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by pan at 8:18 AM on April 4, 2015
🙀
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:22 AM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:22 AM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
Yes, read the NY Times Style Section, unless you are so socially and financially well placed that you literally have, no worries mate, you really have to know what you are up against. Read it like a zoology text if you need a reason, so you know your fauna, so you can negotiate the social terrain.
posted by Oyéah at 8:22 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Oyéah at 8:22 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
The assertion that Drake is "hard" would benefit from an emoji to let me know how serious that statement is.
posted by codacorolla at 8:23 AM on April 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by codacorolla at 8:23 AM on April 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
To me txtspk and emoji aren't so much markers of masculinity as they are of maturity and intelligence.
posted by jonmc at 8:28 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 8:28 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
💩
posted by The Whelk at 8:30 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:30 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
You had a smiley face? We had to use :)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:30 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:30 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
I'm finding this discussion a bit surreal, since all I see for the emoji are little boxes...
posted by librosegretti at 8:31 AM on April 4, 2015 [17 favorites]
posted by librosegretti at 8:31 AM on April 4, 2015 [17 favorites]
> Outside of this the creep factor sets in.
Always fun to see women enforce the patriarchy.
posted by benito.strauss at 8:38 AM on April 4, 2015 [12 favorites]
Always fun to see women enforce the patriarchy.
posted by benito.strauss at 8:38 AM on April 4, 2015 [12 favorites]
It's as stupid and pointless a question as asking whether grown men should wear teeshirts in public. Of course and why the hell not? As long as you are dressed appropriately to the situation -- or speaking appropriately, or writing appropriately -- there is nothing wrong with these informalities.
They might not know how to use emoji well, but hey, cringeworthy behavior is not the exclusive domain of middle aged men.
posted by ardgedee at 8:42 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
They might not know how to use emoji well, but hey, cringeworthy behavior is not the exclusive domain of middle aged men.
posted by ardgedee at 8:42 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I should use my words? Or I should use his words? Because this looks like 💩 to me.
It looks like the top of a soft ice-cream cone? Please explain what you mean, in five or fewer symbols.
posted by mule98J at 8:43 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
It looks like the top of a soft ice-cream cone? Please explain what you mean, in five or fewer symbols.
posted by mule98J at 8:43 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
are all the little boxes supposed to mean something? Is this something i need a fancy device to read?
posted by eustatic at 8:48 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by eustatic at 8:48 AM on April 4, 2015
Ah, finally - discourse has been rendered to the hello kitty first readers my daughter loves. Unfortunately I regularly need to flip to the glossary in the back to figure out if the sheep is Fifi or Tracy.
I'd add, at 3 1/2, we regularly ask her to use her words too.
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:48 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'd add, at 3 1/2, we regularly ask her to use her words too.
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:48 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
This grown man would happily use emoji if his browser actually supported them.
posted by octothorpe at 8:50 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 8:50 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
It looks like the top of a soft ice-cream cone?
🍦
Please explain what you mean, in five or fewer symbols.
🗭⬆️📰🐂💩
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:50 AM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
🍦
Please explain what you mean, in five or fewer symbols.
🗭⬆️📰🐂💩
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:50 AM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
Why are love and playfulness and joy and desire for emotional connectivity always seen as things that must be erased to achieve "maturity"?
Why is love and laughter something we see as a vice to be slowly beaten out of humans before we will allow them into club "adulthood"?
It's no wonder we have a bunch of coldhearted, cruel, and empathyless policies created by those running our businesses, social structures, and policies. We literally trained them to be heartless. It's no wonder they care about no one but themselves/money/business success and nothing for those harmed in the process of eliminating the unwanted, disabled,poverty striken, or needy from the business world and positions of power (where they might actually do messed up wrong things, like share wealth with those in need or see humans as innately worthy of love and kindness rather as business transactions to be kept at arms length and used and controlled without mercy for who they are or what they need or what their dreams are.)
I don't know how to use emoji, but I love rainbows and kitties and I think there should be more rainbow stickers and hearts all over offices. To remind to love each other rather than worshipping at the alter of exploiting anyone/thing you can, and being a no hearted asshole to anyone, human, animal or plant or the earth herself, who gets in your way while people plow over any and everyone to get business and career success.
I don't even know how to use emoji's but I dislike the idea that being playful, kind, or openly loving,warm and smiley is used to define people as not classified as adult human beings worthy of respect like anyone else.
Some people can only take so much love, joy and kindness, but I can only take so much cold and disconnected behavior, why is my right to eliminate all such cold hearted people from my presence or workplace not equally respected as their right to eliminate me, through discrediting my status as an equal adult ?
posted by xarnop at 8:50 AM on April 4, 2015 [90 favorites]
Why is love and laughter something we see as a vice to be slowly beaten out of humans before we will allow them into club "adulthood"?
It's no wonder we have a bunch of coldhearted, cruel, and empathyless policies created by those running our businesses, social structures, and policies. We literally trained them to be heartless. It's no wonder they care about no one but themselves/money/business success and nothing for those harmed in the process of eliminating the unwanted, disabled,poverty striken, or needy from the business world and positions of power (where they might actually do messed up wrong things, like share wealth with those in need or see humans as innately worthy of love and kindness rather as business transactions to be kept at arms length and used and controlled without mercy for who they are or what they need or what their dreams are.)
I don't know how to use emoji, but I love rainbows and kitties and I think there should be more rainbow stickers and hearts all over offices. To remind to love each other rather than worshipping at the alter of exploiting anyone/thing you can, and being a no hearted asshole to anyone, human, animal or plant or the earth herself, who gets in your way while people plow over any and everyone to get business and career success.
I don't even know how to use emoji's but I dislike the idea that being playful, kind, or openly loving,warm and smiley is used to define people as not classified as adult human beings worthy of respect like anyone else.
Some people can only take so much love, joy and kindness, but I can only take so much cold and disconnected behavior, why is my right to eliminate all such cold hearted people from my presence or workplace not equally respected as their right to eliminate me, through discrediting my status as an equal adult ?
posted by xarnop at 8:50 AM on April 4, 2015 [90 favorites]
Good grief. There are actual people with actual concerns about this?
Should grown men say "whatevs", or refer to their emotions as "the feels"? Should grown men wear glitter makeup?
Good news grown men! You can decide for yourself. Choose wisely.
posted by General Tonic at 8:51 AM on April 4, 2015 [19 favorites]
Should grown men say "whatevs", or refer to their emotions as "the feels"? Should grown men wear glitter makeup?
Good news grown men! You can decide for yourself. Choose wisely.
posted by General Tonic at 8:51 AM on April 4, 2015 [19 favorites]
This is probably one of those things where generally people aren't going to say anything directly to someone of a certain age attempting to stay "with it", but secretly they think it's faintly ridiculous. In my social circle of mid 30s men and women, there's one guy who peppers his online musings with emoji, and while none of us will say anything directly to him, its the subject of much mockery behind his back. We're assholes, I guess.
(See also super skinny jeans on 40 year olds)
posted by modernnomad at 8:52 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
(See also super skinny jeans on 40 year olds)
posted by modernnomad at 8:52 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
ALERT, ALERT: SOME MEN ARE BEING TOO FEMININE, BY MY ODDLY SPECIFIC STANDARDS. DISPATCH THE KLAXON-BOTS.
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 9:04 AM on April 4, 2015 [20 favorites]
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 9:04 AM on April 4, 2015 [20 favorites]
Metafilter: is this something I'd need a browser to support?
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:07 AM on April 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:07 AM on April 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
Emoji are useful as a mostly culture- and language-agnostic shorthand for basic responses and emotional signifiers. To know how to wield them is just another skill to be utilized when appropriate. The backlash is just another way of saying "Kids these days, yeesh!"
To say that a distaste for emoji equates to antipathy towards emotion and joy and love is insulting to emotional, joyful and loving people who just prefer to communicate in full sentences. Neither is objectively better than the other. My fully articulate aunt uses emoji. I text with proper punctuation and no shorthand. It takes all kinds.
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:08 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
To say that a distaste for emoji equates to antipathy towards emotion and joy and love is insulting to emotional, joyful and loving people who just prefer to communicate in full sentences. Neither is objectively better than the other. My fully articulate aunt uses emoji. I text with proper punctuation and no shorthand. It takes all kinds.
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:08 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
People really need to lighten up.
posted by ReeMonster at 9:09 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ReeMonster at 9:09 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
IS SASSY SALSA LADY THE NEW NAIL-PAINTING EMOJU? DISCUSS
posted by Juliet Banana at 9:10 AM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by Juliet Banana at 9:10 AM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
I suppose emojis are just another manifestation of the tower of babel in the age of the corporate, profit-driven internet.
Remember the ideal that different walled garden services would communicate with one another? like a Trillian could communicate across yahoo and aol gardens.
now there's the corporate behemoths of tumblr, facebook, twitter, all crippling each other's attempts to populate the other service with free content from users just trying to build community. (p.s., thank you again, metafilter)
txtspk is one thing; language is forever mutable, and people will spend lives creating and playing with shibboleths, and codes to switch, to communicate multiple meanings to different audiences in the same words or logograms.
but what does it mean when that mutability is monetized and taylorized, that people have to pay to play, to be able to communicate with one another? my nightmare is having to pay an 'emoji consultant' and pay subscription fees to be allowed access to the logograms, or to the hardware devices that have exclusive contracts with the logograms, just to invite people to attend a party
posted by eustatic at 9:11 AM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Remember the ideal that different walled garden services would communicate with one another? like a Trillian could communicate across yahoo and aol gardens.
now there's the corporate behemoths of tumblr, facebook, twitter, all crippling each other's attempts to populate the other service with free content from users just trying to build community. (p.s., thank you again, metafilter)
txtspk is one thing; language is forever mutable, and people will spend lives creating and playing with shibboleths, and codes to switch, to communicate multiple meanings to different audiences in the same words or logograms.
but what does it mean when that mutability is monetized and taylorized, that people have to pay to play, to be able to communicate with one another? my nightmare is having to pay an 'emoji consultant' and pay subscription fees to be allowed access to the logograms, or to the hardware devices that have exclusive contracts with the logograms, just to invite people to attend a party
posted by eustatic at 9:11 AM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Should grown men say "whatevs", or refer to their emotions as "the feels"? Should grown men wear glitter makeup?
I would like to propose a compromise, where everybody, regardless of age or gender identity, can use emoji, say "whatevs", and wear glitter makeup, and in return, nobody ever refers to their emotions as "feels" again.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 9:14 AM on April 4, 2015 [20 favorites]
I would like to propose a compromise, where everybody, regardless of age or gender identity, can use emoji, say "whatevs", and wear glitter makeup, and in return, nobody ever refers to their emotions as "feels" again.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 9:14 AM on April 4, 2015 [20 favorites]
Except, you know, no one has sincerely said the feels in like three years
posted by The Whelk at 9:24 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by The Whelk at 9:24 AM on April 4, 2015
a fee-fee free fiefdom
posted by Juliet Banana at 9:24 AM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by Juliet Banana at 9:24 AM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
This is sort of like worrying about if grown men should have a Pet Rock or a Mood Ring, isn't it?
posted by thelonius at 9:27 AM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 9:27 AM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
thelonius i think its more like worrying about Serious Grown Folks doing Dumb Girl Things which is weird because i thought usenet dorks basically invented the unicode smiley and all those goddamn other smileys
i came onto the internet in the 90s and don't remember emoticons being feminized at that point. can someone confirm or deny this please i dont want to go off on a genius emoticons theory based on me misremembering geocities pages
posted by beefetish at 9:30 AM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
i came onto the internet in the 90s and don't remember emoticons being feminized at that point. can someone confirm or deny this please i dont want to go off on a genius emoticons theory based on me misremembering geocities pages
posted by beefetish at 9:30 AM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Of course grown men can use emoji there are dragons what could possibly be more butch 🐲🐉🐊
posted by The Whelk at 9:36 AM on April 4, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:36 AM on April 4, 2015 [11 favorites]
If there's no "oh well shrug" emoji, then I'll have to stick with Unicode emoticons, right?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by infinitewindow at 9:36 AM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by infinitewindow at 9:36 AM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
Language evolves and is fun. I love emojis.
The real disease is the sudden, collective inability of English speakers to understand the differences between "who" and "whom" and between "whoever" and "whomever." Everybody became stupid overnight and the NYT isn't writing about it.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:37 AM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
The real disease is the sudden, collective inability of English speakers to understand the differences between "who" and "whom" and between "whoever" and "whomever." Everybody became stupid overnight and the NYT isn't writing about it.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:37 AM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Should grown men wear glitter makeup?
please god more of this thank you
posted by Ashen at 9:40 AM on April 4, 2015 [14 favorites]
please god more of this thank you
posted by Ashen at 9:40 AM on April 4, 2015 [14 favorites]
It's the most adorable front in the culture wars.
posted by trunk muffins at 9:40 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by trunk muffins at 9:40 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
More glitter, or more grar?
posted by General Tonic at 9:41 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by General Tonic at 9:41 AM on April 4, 2015
Absolutely more glitter.
posted by Ashen at 9:43 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Ashen at 9:43 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
Grown men are buying cars based on a cross-tabular analysis of statistical tables. They're reading magazines about current events, and clucking their tongues. They're flying to places in the middle of the country for business and going to "the best damn steak restaurant in the whole city" while they're there. Grown men are perusing the fashion advice of major publications that calls for a more laid back approach to clothing, internalizing the advice, and then choosing not to act on it. Grown men are depositing genetic material into their spouses, and then reading the Reddit "Cool Dad Jokes" forum for advice. Grown men are enthusiastically watching sports (both professional and collegiate) and fantasizing about "Their Time in College". Grown men are sharing important documents, such as the most recent This Week Tonight rant. Grown men are cultivating a taste for bitter beer, and debating cultivating a taste for complex wine. Grown men are establishing their stance with regards to larger changes to the zeitgeist and how that relates to their own preferences.
posted by codacorolla at 9:45 AM on April 4, 2015 [31 favorites]
posted by codacorolla at 9:45 AM on April 4, 2015 [31 favorites]
Oh, apparently 💁 is an "information desk person". I guess it's an information desk person with a blase approach to her job. "Uh, I guess the bathrooms are over there. Or something. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"
posted by zsazsa at 9:49 AM on April 4, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by zsazsa at 9:49 AM on April 4, 2015 [10 favorites]
I fully support the idea of the Emoji equivalent of a driver's license. Until you can prove that you know the difference between its and it's, or can explain what the subjunctive is, you don't get to use the pretty pictures.
posted by komara at 9:51 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by komara at 9:51 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I tend to agree that the written word is preferable to the smiley-face. I am, by nature, pedantic and, unreasonably, I expect others to be the same. My bad! :) But see, what's missing sometimes in brief communications like this is the human touch, the soft voice, the smile. Emoji are just our way of breaking through the coldness and ambiguity of text and holding out a comforting hand.
posted by SPrintF at 9:52 AM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 9:52 AM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
I fully support the idea of the Emoji equivalent of a driver's license. Until you can prove that you know the difference between its and it's, or can explain what the subjunctive is, you don't get to use the pretty pictures.
I would like there to be an emoji one could use to express one's subjunctive mood.
posted by busted_crayons at 9:53 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
I would like there to be an emoji one could use to express one's subjunctive mood.
posted by busted_crayons at 9:53 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
PROTIP: Install Symbola to get emojis to show up in your browser.
posted by reluctant early bird at 9:53 AM on April 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by reluctant early bird at 9:53 AM on April 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
Benjamin Franklin, a grown man.
The Art of Making Money Plenty $50!
Rebus
posted by lazycomputerkids at 9:59 AM on April 4, 2015
The Art of Making Money Plenty $50!
Rebus
posted by lazycomputerkids at 9:59 AM on April 4, 2015
> Because of an unholy curse, every time you use an emoji, a word disappears from the Oxford
> Dictionary forever.
hashtag
:-)
twerk
:-)
selfie
:-)
humblebrag
:-)
sideboob
:-)
manspreading
:-)
phablet
:-)
brony
:-)
adorkable
:-)
It's a target-rich environment.
posted by jfuller at 9:59 AM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
> Dictionary forever.
hashtag
:-)
twerk
:-)
selfie
:-)
humblebrag
:-)
sideboob
:-)
manspreading
:-)
phablet
:-)
brony
:-)
adorkable
:-)
It's a target-rich environment.
posted by jfuller at 9:59 AM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
I don't use them or understand them. I have always assumed that this was an example of a widening gap between myself and modernity, one of the examples of the way in which my ability or interest in learning about the contemporary world has started to wane as I am satisfied with what I learned in the past, a period of time that still feels contemporary to me but will increasingly mark me as someone who is out-of-touch and locked in a past that is fast dwindling into antiquity. It's not something I am proud of, but, as I near 50, it seems like something I am not always going to be able to fight.
But now I realize it just means I am a man and am mature. Whoo hoo!
posted by maxsparber at 9:59 AM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
But now I realize it just means I am a man and am mature. Whoo hoo!
posted by maxsparber at 9:59 AM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
So Bloomberg actually has its own Emoji system. For the unfamiliar, Bloomberg is this financial software system that is basically like the Matrix if you work in finance - it has every sort of financial data on earth and a chat system that everyone in the industry uses. If you want to chat with literally anybody in finance, you type their name in and it auto searches it and you can IM them.
Bloomberg is probably the most impressive example of legacy software on earth - it's been around continuously since the 1980s and is a treat for people who like retro software stuff. It's a shame there isn't more written about it on the general web because this is seriously some amazing history of computing stuff that should go into a web archive or something. You'll stumble on some pages that literally look like they came from a 1980's Apple II screen, while others have all sorts of high-tech Web 2.0 shit going on. It's like the Katamari Damacy of computer programs: a core of ancient functions from the 1980s with new stuff tacked on with scotch tape over the years. The reason is crusty old finance people who have been using the same damn Bloomberg function since the 1980s and would have a fit if they changed anything (similar to how everyone uses HP-12C calculators that cost an utterly ridiculous $70 new since only finance people use them).
Anyhow, they have this Emoji system that you can use in chats, and it is some hilarious 1980s era graphics. They have little flags for every country on earth and every college on earth and little T-shirt jerseys for every sports team on earth. And then all the utterly bizarre ones. Like dozens of little emoji for different types of food, animals, and even the Koelner Dom.
So for anyone who thinks the grownups in business and whatnot don't use Emoji, it's not true. They've been using Emoji since before the Emoji generation was born.
posted by pravit at 10:00 AM on April 4, 2015 [86 favorites]
Bloomberg is probably the most impressive example of legacy software on earth - it's been around continuously since the 1980s and is a treat for people who like retro software stuff. It's a shame there isn't more written about it on the general web because this is seriously some amazing history of computing stuff that should go into a web archive or something. You'll stumble on some pages that literally look like they came from a 1980's Apple II screen, while others have all sorts of high-tech Web 2.0 shit going on. It's like the Katamari Damacy of computer programs: a core of ancient functions from the 1980s with new stuff tacked on with scotch tape over the years. The reason is crusty old finance people who have been using the same damn Bloomberg function since the 1980s and would have a fit if they changed anything (similar to how everyone uses HP-12C calculators that cost an utterly ridiculous $70 new since only finance people use them).
Anyhow, they have this Emoji system that you can use in chats, and it is some hilarious 1980s era graphics. They have little flags for every country on earth and every college on earth and little T-shirt jerseys for every sports team on earth. And then all the utterly bizarre ones. Like dozens of little emoji for different types of food, animals, and even the Koelner Dom.
So for anyone who thinks the grownups in business and whatnot don't use Emoji, it's not true. They've been using Emoji since before the Emoji generation was born.
posted by pravit at 10:00 AM on April 4, 2015 [86 favorites]
komara:
Otherwise, fuck it, do what you want, who gives a shit.
posted by idiopath at 10:03 AM on April 4, 2015 [20 favorites]
"I fully support the idea of the Emoji equivalent of a driver's license. Until you can prove that you know the difference between its and it's, or can explain what the subjunctive is, you don't get to use the pretty pictures"Only if we can make fluency with bash a pre-requisite to using point and click interfaces, and if you want to use a windowing system you should have to configure your xorg.conf by hand.
Otherwise, fuck it, do what you want, who gives a shit.
posted by idiopath at 10:03 AM on April 4, 2015 [20 favorites]
See also stick shift, washing dishes by hand, and chopping your own firewood.
posted by idiopath at 10:05 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by idiopath at 10:05 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
Facebook stickers are still OK though? I like the dancing monkey ones.
posted by Cookiebastard at 10:06 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Cookiebastard at 10:06 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
I'm down with driving a manual, washing dishes and chopping my own firewood, but I will pay good money for someone else to iron my shirts.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 10:07 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 10:07 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
OK apparently I need to install an Emoji extension on Chrome if I am going to read this thread...
posted by MrBobaFett at 10:10 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by MrBobaFett at 10:10 AM on April 4, 2015
I use emojis occasionally for people who appreciate them, which tend to be the women in my life (wife, daughter). Otherwise, I'm not naturally drawn to them. However, I totally see the draw. They work really well at times to avoid some of the ambiguity that comes through a strictly written medium. I can write something that either sounds sarcastic, or light-hearted, or fakey-sacrastic that is also lighthearted. Throwing an image after something can actually, strangely, provide some clarity about how you are really feeling about something. The desire to use them isn't always about being cute, I don't think, but often about adding non-verbal cues that are normally a part of verbal conversation, but you miss or it becomes ambiguous when it becomes all written.
Emoji, he said, allow for an expressive, human way of translating the spoken word into text, with the goofy symbols providing a texter or tweeter with the means to convey tone.
Or, on preview, this from the article.
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:14 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
Emoji, he said, allow for an expressive, human way of translating the spoken word into text, with the goofy symbols providing a texter or tweeter with the means to convey tone.
Or, on preview, this from the article.
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:14 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
When I was 14, I read Greg Bear's SF novel Eon, in which the people from the future had developed a culture where they carried projectors and would "pict" each other expressive images in person as another layer of communication along with verbal.
When I was 16 and learned about ascii smileys, I thought this was very front edge of Bear's future, more so as cat pics and GIFs and captioned images became popular and smileys bloomed into emoji.
Then I read this article and realized culture could go a lot of different places.
Then I saw lazycomputerkids' Rebus link and was reminded that visual sidechannels have probably always been a part of most human media.
So I'll roll my eyes in honor of my 16 year old self that thought this was novel.
And I'll bite my thumb at the NYT's headline-question.
posted by weston at 10:15 AM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
When I was 16 and learned about ascii smileys, I thought this was very front edge of Bear's future, more so as cat pics and GIFs and captioned images became popular and smileys bloomed into emoji.
Then I read this article and realized culture could go a lot of different places.
Then I saw lazycomputerkids' Rebus link and was reminded that visual sidechannels have probably always been a part of most human media.
So I'll roll my eyes in honor of my 16 year old self that thought this was novel.
And I'll bite my thumb at the NYT's headline-question.
posted by weston at 10:15 AM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Emoji is a cant like gyarumoji. It is a cryptolect, a dialect deliberately intended to be cryptic so it creates a sense of being in a select in-group if you understand it at all. For example, here's a video from Japanese TV in about 1994, showing some teenage girls using gyarumoji, and then showing them to older men and women and asking them to figure out what they meant. Of course they are baffled.
As far as I can tell, emoji first originated in the Japanese pager industry around 1996. Pager usage dropped dramatically as phones with SMS service came on the market. So they started marketing to teenage girls (who can make or break a product) with very cheap pagers that had a few symbols like a heart, etc. Some models had primitive touch screens so you could draw low rez graphics and make your own graphic emoji, as long as it could fit the graphics data within the length of a short pager message. I have some pics of this somewhere, I scanned them and said this was obviously the death of the pager industry, if they were so desperate to market their dying product in this way.
So yeah, definitely use emoji if you want to come across like teenage girls speaking pig latin.
posted by charlie don't surf at 10:15 AM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
As far as I can tell, emoji first originated in the Japanese pager industry around 1996. Pager usage dropped dramatically as phones with SMS service came on the market. So they started marketing to teenage girls (who can make or break a product) with very cheap pagers that had a few symbols like a heart, etc. Some models had primitive touch screens so you could draw low rez graphics and make your own graphic emoji, as long as it could fit the graphics data within the length of a short pager message. I have some pics of this somewhere, I scanned them and said this was obviously the death of the pager industry, if they were so desperate to market their dying product in this way.
So yeah, definitely use emoji if you want to come across like teenage girls speaking pig latin.
posted by charlie don't surf at 10:15 AM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Oh wow I forgot about the "picting" in Eon. And the recreational ethnic nationalism. Remember that?
posted by General Tonic at 10:19 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by General Tonic at 10:19 AM on April 4, 2015
I love Alex Navarro:
If you’re a grown man sweating emoji because they’re “unmanly” please carefully remove your brain from your skull and punt it into the ocean
posted by kmz at 10:24 AM on April 4, 2015 [17 favorites]
If you’re a grown man sweating emoji because they’re “unmanly” please carefully remove your brain from your skull and punt it into the ocean
posted by kmz at 10:24 AM on April 4, 2015 [17 favorites]
Given their resemblance to the stickers that adorn the notebooks of schoolgirls
Anything that young girls do is just teh stupidest, amirite? Big smart grownup men with their important jobs and their brains are like the opposite of teenage girls who are all like whatevs and have nothing but unpredictable hormones in their heads. Why would you lower yourself to be like a teenage girl when you're the boss of society??!1
Fuck that. My partner is 58 and loves him an emoji. And he's a manly man who's manly so there 😜
posted by billiebee at 10:26 AM on April 4, 2015 [30 favorites]
Anything that young girls do is just teh stupidest, amirite? Big smart grownup men with their important jobs and their brains are like the opposite of teenage girls who are all like whatevs and have nothing but unpredictable hormones in their heads. Why would you lower yourself to be like a teenage girl when you're the boss of society??!1
Fuck that. My partner is 58 and loves him an emoji. And he's a manly man who's manly so there 😜
posted by billiebee at 10:26 AM on April 4, 2015 [30 favorites]
remove your brain from your skull and punt it into the ocean
I would absolutely use that emoji.
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:27 AM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
I would absolutely use that emoji.
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:27 AM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
I am active on IRC.
I use emoji to de-escalate what could be misread as hostile messages. This can lead to wailing and gnashing of teeth among the manly old guard
those for whom programming is an activity for men
those who use the term "hand holding" as a derogatory term for a kind of assistance they look down upon
Happily, I am part of a community that is actively anti-sexist, and the manly men can fuck off somewhere else.
posted by idiopath at 10:28 AM on April 4, 2015 [15 favorites]
I use emoji to de-escalate what could be misread as hostile messages. This can lead to wailing and gnashing of teeth among the manly old guard
those for whom programming is an activity for men
those who use the term "hand holding" as a derogatory term for a kind of assistance they look down upon
Happily, I am part of a community that is actively anti-sexist, and the manly men can fuck off somewhere else.
posted by idiopath at 10:28 AM on April 4, 2015 [15 favorites]
Why is being a teenage girl such a humiliating way to come across? If you want to stop people from doing a thing associate young females with it and it becomes a behavior to avoid like the plague. See also giggling, openly weeping, enjoying things that are cute and a host of other behaviors that I really don't at all see any actual harm in that people are shamed for simply because they are associate with young females who haven't had them shamed away yet.
posted by xarnop at 10:28 AM on April 4, 2015 [35 favorites]
posted by xarnop at 10:28 AM on April 4, 2015 [35 favorites]
You know what? The kids are alright today. Just chill, people (in the FPP).
posted by Navelgazer at 10:29 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by Navelgazer at 10:29 AM on April 4, 2015
Philosophically, no problem with emoji. Having never mastered the exit in any format, they're a great way to denote the end of a brief exchange in a friendly way. Technically, it's frustrating how small the unicode glyphs are in a desktop/browser situation. The infomation desk person for example looks like a indistinct blob until I zoom wayyy in. At normal font sizes, anything with more than a few lines is a garbled mess. I rarely use it but Google's implementation in gchats looks great ... other than the hairy heart. I do hope something like color emoji support in OTF becomes a thing.
posted by Lorin at 10:31 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by Lorin at 10:31 AM on April 4, 2015
For much of my life, I was worried about seeming too feminine. Or, if we're being honest, too gay. The two are synonymous in straight male culture. This fear was strongest when I was in high school, but its effects lingered for long after.
Over time, I've stopped caring so much. I'm now in my thirties, and I use emoji. I wear rainbow scarves and unicorn t-shirts. I don't really care if someone thinks I'm girly. And let me tell you: IT IS SUCH A RELIEF.
Performative masculinity is so exhausting. I'm so glad our culture is becoming more accepting of the feminine. It's allowing for a more flexible masculinity. But some people aren't going to be comfortable with this. They're going to think things like "only teenage girls use emoji." But that's just reactionary bullshit.
Use emoji if they help you express yourself better. Or don't. But please don't try to define gender with them. That doesn't help anyone.
posted by mokin at 10:35 AM on April 4, 2015 [27 favorites]
Over time, I've stopped caring so much. I'm now in my thirties, and I use emoji. I wear rainbow scarves and unicorn t-shirts. I don't really care if someone thinks I'm girly. And let me tell you: IT IS SUCH A RELIEF.
Performative masculinity is so exhausting. I'm so glad our culture is becoming more accepting of the feminine. It's allowing for a more flexible masculinity. But some people aren't going to be comfortable with this. They're going to think things like "only teenage girls use emoji." But that's just reactionary bullshit.
Use emoji if they help you express yourself better. Or don't. But please don't try to define gender with them. That doesn't help anyone.
posted by mokin at 10:35 AM on April 4, 2015 [27 favorites]
So yay. Yet another way for the brodudes to judge me as somehow 'less manly.' 👉👌that.
posted by sexyrobot at 10:35 AM on April 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by sexyrobot at 10:35 AM on April 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
I really don't care if grown fonts use emoji or emoticons, I was just pretending to care, I am really busy weighing down my chair just now, sorry, as you were. :-)
posted by Oyéah at 10:36 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by Oyéah at 10:36 AM on April 4, 2015
Old people up in arms about the way young people communicate? Middle-aged men belittling teenage girls for acting like maybe being a teenage girl is OK? Uptight prescriptivists jumping on whatever reactionary bandwagon rolls by just for the raised platform?
*gasp*.
It's all so surprising. As though this hasn't happened before, as though it's not an entirely predictable byproduct of old assholes getting old and doubling down on the patronizing and gender-policing. The older I get, the more I think that being old is a choice, and that belittling young people for the unforgivable offense of being young while you're not is one of those choices.
posted by mhoye at 10:39 AM on April 4, 2015 [18 favorites]
*gasp*.
It's all so surprising. As though this hasn't happened before, as though it's not an entirely predictable byproduct of old assholes getting old and doubling down on the patronizing and gender-policing. The older I get, the more I think that being old is a choice, and that belittling young people for the unforgivable offense of being young while you're not is one of those choices.
posted by mhoye at 10:39 AM on April 4, 2015 [18 favorites]
So why isn't Emoji art standardized? Something like 🚴 looks different between apps and platforms. This is not helpful if the recipient doesn't see the same art as I thought I sent them.
posted by MrBobaFett at 10:44 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by MrBobaFett at 10:44 AM on April 4, 2015
Nobody anywhere should refer to their emotions as "the feels." That's just stupid.
posted by jonmc at 10:46 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 10:46 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Sometimes when we touch the feels are too much.
posted by nom de poop at 10:56 AM on April 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by nom de poop at 10:56 AM on April 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
So yay. Yet another way for the brodudes to judge me as somehow 'less manly.'
They can :* my *
posted by Foosnark at 11:03 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
They can :* my *
posted by Foosnark at 11:03 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I sometimes hate articles like this because now, if I ever start to hate emojis for whatever arbitrary reason in the future (don't mind them at all now, but could see growing to dislike them for plain old, boringly non-ideological reasons like overexposure to them), complaining about it will make people assume it's some form of masculinity policing. Small price to pay I know, but there you go.
posted by saulgoodman at 11:10 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by saulgoodman at 11:10 AM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
you can pry my cute emojis from my cold dead hands 😤
posted by Gymnopedist at 11:10 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Gymnopedist at 11:10 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Oh thank god I'm not a grown man.
posted by infini at 11:13 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by infini at 11:13 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
^fail
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:20 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:20 AM on April 4, 2015
So why isn't Emoji art standardized?
The standard emoji have been given Unicode code points by the Unicode Consortium, which basically means they are treated exactly like all other letters/characters by your computer. I.e. they are officially considered glyphs in a human language. So the choice of Emoji art is essentially a choice of font and can vary from system to system.
My problem is, I have no idea how to interpret these dumb symbols. Like I get 🍰, or 😱, or whatever. But then people start putting lots of them next to each other like 😆📢🐻🏠⚾️ and I just don't know what to do. Is there an underlying grammatical structure? Does the translation of a symbol change depending on context, or is there a simple one-to-one mapping between symbols and English words/phrases?
Now I'm worried that 1) people are going to expect me to understand their ridiculous picture sentences, and 2) I have to start using them or else I'm enforcing the patriarchy.
posted by vogon_poet at 11:20 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
The standard emoji have been given Unicode code points by the Unicode Consortium, which basically means they are treated exactly like all other letters/characters by your computer. I.e. they are officially considered glyphs in a human language. So the choice of Emoji art is essentially a choice of font and can vary from system to system.
My problem is, I have no idea how to interpret these dumb symbols. Like I get 🍰, or 😱, or whatever. But then people start putting lots of them next to each other like 😆📢🐻🏠⚾️ and I just don't know what to do. Is there an underlying grammatical structure? Does the translation of a symbol change depending on context, or is there a simple one-to-one mapping between symbols and English words/phrases?
Now I'm worried that 1) people are going to expect me to understand their ridiculous picture sentences, and 2) I have to start using them or else I'm enforcing the patriarchy.
posted by vogon_poet at 11:20 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
^fail (was supposed to refer to jons comment, 😞)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:21 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:21 AM on April 4, 2015
😆📢🐻🏠⚾️
Silly announcer: the bears home arena isn't Wrigley field, that's a baseball stadium!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:23 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
Silly announcer: the bears home arena isn't Wrigley field, that's a baseball stadium!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:23 AM on April 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
Sometimes when we touch the feels are too much.
I refer you to this exercise in photoshop/vandalism in which classic blues albums have the word "blues" replaced with "feels".
posted by mhoye at 11:24 AM on April 4, 2015 [14 favorites]
I refer you to this exercise in photoshop/vandalism in which classic blues albums have the word "blues" replaced with "feels".
posted by mhoye at 11:24 AM on April 4, 2015 [14 favorites]
Actually I was going for "Yogi Berra has just hit a home run!!!", which I think illustrates my ineptitude. Probably should have gone for something yoga-related instead.
posted by vogon_poet at 11:25 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by vogon_poet at 11:25 AM on April 4, 2015
[][] is the new [][][], or sometimes[][][] is [][], but fortunately we can all [][][][] when we want to [][] or [][].
posted by librosegretti at 11:25 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by librosegretti at 11:25 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Now that Web and media companies are all starting to work in Slack, like all the finance people work in Bloomberg, this is just the way we talk.
I just looked over in work Slack, where a grown man was commiserating with a grown woman about a computer problem:
💻 😒
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(I think we reached peak shrug, by the way, when Organizing for America included it in the subject line of a recent email.)
Also, whoa, Potomac Avenue, I didn't know there were italic versions of emoji. This takes it to a whole other level...
posted by limeonaire at 11:39 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I just looked over in work Slack, where a grown man was commiserating with a grown woman about a computer problem:
💻 😒
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(I think we reached peak shrug, by the way, when Organizing for America included it in the subject line of a recent email.)
Also, whoa, Potomac Avenue, I didn't know there were italic versions of emoji. This takes it to a whole other level...
posted by limeonaire at 11:39 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I remember a similar article in the 80s bemoaning how grown men are wearing black Gummi bracelets and moussing their hair. And just as I said then, I will say again now: "Oh shit the roller rink closes in an hour!"
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 11:42 AM on April 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 11:42 AM on April 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
🐪💨
posted by MeatLightning at 11:43 AM on April 4, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by MeatLightning at 11:43 AM on April 4, 2015 [12 favorites]
Old people up in arms about the way young people communicate? Middle-aged men belittling teenage girls for acting like maybe being a teenage girl is OK?
I think you have that exactly backwards. The example I gave of mutated electronic symbols from"gyaru culture" is largely an in-group thing, it's intended to collectively express their uniqueness by creating an artificial linguistic boundary between them and others. It is intended to befuddle everyone outside their group.
Let me give you a related example. Technical pens with extremely fine points of about 0.1mm are popular with teenage schoolgirls in Japan. They write notes to each other in tiny kanji (and sometimes gyarumoji) so small that they are practically invisible, and cannot be read by their eyeglass-wearing teachers. I got one of these pens and tested it, I had to use a magnifier just to write with it. So you might say these are teenage girls belittling middle aged people for their poor eyesight.
This is a never-ending cycle. My Japanese language instructors (who were almost exclusively young women) complained about the impossibility of teaching slang, especially girls's slang. They grew up with a set of slang words in common use by their girlfriends, and by the time they were in college, a completely different and incomprehensible set of slang was in use by teenage girls. So it would be impossible to write textbooks with instruction in usage of slang expressions, they would be obsolete before they were published. Japanese slang changes so rapidly that even news broadcasts have to use subtitles for them (with footnotes on screen) and inadvertently became a distribution system for slang. So every year, NHK publishes a "shingo jiten," a dictionary of new words.
Japan seems to be the origin for lots of these cultural in-group things like emoji, but this is not the time to get into a discussion of Nihonjinron. Suffice to say that the language itself encodes relationships to in-groups and out-groups in many subtle ways, and it has a lot of regional dialects that are incomprehensible to outsiders, and thus as a byproduct, it produces a lot of in-group cryptolects.
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:51 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I think you have that exactly backwards. The example I gave of mutated electronic symbols from"gyaru culture" is largely an in-group thing, it's intended to collectively express their uniqueness by creating an artificial linguistic boundary between them and others. It is intended to befuddle everyone outside their group.
Let me give you a related example. Technical pens with extremely fine points of about 0.1mm are popular with teenage schoolgirls in Japan. They write notes to each other in tiny kanji (and sometimes gyarumoji) so small that they are practically invisible, and cannot be read by their eyeglass-wearing teachers. I got one of these pens and tested it, I had to use a magnifier just to write with it. So you might say these are teenage girls belittling middle aged people for their poor eyesight.
This is a never-ending cycle. My Japanese language instructors (who were almost exclusively young women) complained about the impossibility of teaching slang, especially girls's slang. They grew up with a set of slang words in common use by their girlfriends, and by the time they were in college, a completely different and incomprehensible set of slang was in use by teenage girls. So it would be impossible to write textbooks with instruction in usage of slang expressions, they would be obsolete before they were published. Japanese slang changes so rapidly that even news broadcasts have to use subtitles for them (with footnotes on screen) and inadvertently became a distribution system for slang. So every year, NHK publishes a "shingo jiten," a dictionary of new words.
Japan seems to be the origin for lots of these cultural in-group things like emoji, but this is not the time to get into a discussion of Nihonjinron. Suffice to say that the language itself encodes relationships to in-groups and out-groups in many subtle ways, and it has a lot of regional dialects that are incomprehensible to outsiders, and thus as a byproduct, it produces a lot of in-group cryptolects.
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:51 AM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
💻 😒
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
-limeonaire
This is my life.
posted by Zalzidrax at 11:51 AM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
-limeonaire
This is my life.
posted by Zalzidrax at 11:51 AM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Metafilter: this is my entire life.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:58 AM on April 4, 2015
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:58 AM on April 4, 2015
understand the differences between "who" and "whom" and between "whoever" and "whomever"
Meh. Water under the bridge 20 years ago. It's vestigial and only really preserved in educated writing. We really have no need to distinguish between subject and object forms of the word. It's always clear from context cuz you know who's zoomin' who.
Most student writing I read, from well educated college students, appears to have deprecated the who/whom distinction, for years now. I no longer correct it, any more than I correct "their" for a gender neutral third person singular pronoun.
Language changes. We just live longer these days than nature intended so we notice and gripe about more because we are old and our feet hurt.
posted by spitbull at 12:07 PM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
Meh. Water under the bridge 20 years ago. It's vestigial and only really preserved in educated writing. We really have no need to distinguish between subject and object forms of the word. It's always clear from context cuz you know who's zoomin' who.
Most student writing I read, from well educated college students, appears to have deprecated the who/whom distinction, for years now. I no longer correct it, any more than I correct "their" for a gender neutral third person singular pronoun.
Language changes. We just live longer these days than nature intended so we notice and gripe about more because we are old and our feet hurt.
posted by spitbull at 12:07 PM on April 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
I don't really use them but there's no reason why not. I mean, as long as you're not throwing them out in professional correspondence or something, who cares what you send to your friends?
posted by Hoopo at 12:13 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Hoopo at 12:13 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
My problem is, I have no idea how to interpret these dumb symbols. Like I get 🍰, or 😱, or whatever. But then people start putting lots of them next to each other like 😆📢🐻🏠⚾️ and I just don't know what to do. Is there an underlying grammatical structure? Does the translation of a symbol change depending on context, or is there a simple one-to-one mapping between symbols and English words/phrases?
i worry about this, too, but then I 🏃🐕🐾🐾🐾🐾🏡
posted by winna at 12:20 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
i worry about this, too, but then I 🏃🐕🐾🐾🐾🐾🏡
posted by winna at 12:20 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
The real question is, should anyone value the word of a newspaper that employs David Brooks?
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 1:19 PM on April 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 1:19 PM on April 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
This post has given me the impetus to google how to add emojis to my phone. How dare anyone attempt to curtail what I've never been interested in in the first place!
💃🙅☎️💳🐹🐉
...OMG what have I been missing out on!
posted by Omnomnom at 1:23 PM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
💃🙅☎️💳🐹🐉
...OMG what have I been missing out on!
posted by Omnomnom at 1:23 PM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
The three emojii I really need:
1. The sarcasm flag
2. The eye roll
3. The hug
posted by bendy at 1:32 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
1. The sarcasm flag
2. The eye roll
3. The hug
posted by bendy at 1:32 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
witchen: People writing "I'm bias" instead of "I'm biased."
That one always makes me confuse.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:36 PM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
That one always makes me confuse.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:36 PM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
This post has given me the impetus to google how to add emojis to my phone.
Then it has done some good. The New York Times Style Section does more damage to the Times' credibility on a weekly basis than Judith Miller did for the entire "WMDs" era. But then, so do 80% of its Op-Ed contributors (Brooks is the oil-soaked tip of the iceberg). Are NYTStyleSection articles UNworthy of a SLP? Do 🐻🐻💩🌲🌲🌲? (bear-bear-shit-tree-tree-tree)
I'm just surprised this thread doesn't have MORE emojis. MetaFilter is one of the best internet refuges for "grown men" who refuse to grow up (myself proudly included). Hi dad, I'm foop.
But then, there is no emoji (yet) for the Plate of Beans (although the "curry and rice"🍛 could be mistaken if you don't look at it too closely.) The "open hands"👐 can be interpreted as "hug" and "hamburger"🍔 is our sarcasm flag. "Eye Roll" 🙄 "is a candidate for inclusion in the Unicode 8.0 update, scheduled for mid-2015." Also, "Angry Face"😠 is a standard GRAR and "Flipping The Bird"🖕 is "coming soon as part of the Unicode 7.0 update." Be patient.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:47 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Then it has done some good. The New York Times Style Section does more damage to the Times' credibility on a weekly basis than Judith Miller did for the entire "WMDs" era. But then, so do 80% of its Op-Ed contributors (Brooks is the oil-soaked tip of the iceberg). Are NYTStyleSection articles UNworthy of a SLP? Do 🐻🐻💩🌲🌲🌲? (bear-bear-shit-tree-tree-tree)
I'm just surprised this thread doesn't have MORE emojis. MetaFilter is one of the best internet refuges for "grown men" who refuse to grow up (myself proudly included). Hi dad, I'm foop.
But then, there is no emoji (yet) for the Plate of Beans (although the "curry and rice"🍛 could be mistaken if you don't look at it too closely.) The "open hands"👐 can be interpreted as "hug" and "hamburger"🍔 is our sarcasm flag. "Eye Roll" 🙄 "is a candidate for inclusion in the Unicode 8.0 update, scheduled for mid-2015." Also, "Angry Face"😠 is a standard GRAR and "Flipping The Bird"🖕 is "coming soon as part of the Unicode 7.0 update." Be patient.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:47 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
So flipping the bird is FIAMO?
/dad tried to mail me a smartphone for my birthday recently, should I say yes?
posted by infini at 1:51 PM on April 4, 2015
/dad tried to mail me a smartphone for my birthday recently, should I say yes?
posted by infini at 1:51 PM on April 4, 2015
🏱 White Pennant, 🏲 Black Pennant, 🏳 Waving White Flag and 🏴 Waving Black Flag are all coming soon as part of the Unicode 7.0 update. So combine with 🚶 Walk or 🏃 Run and you'll have "FIAMO". Interesting discovery... these emojis are "recommended to be displayed with a yellow skin tone by default, unless a skin tone modifier is applied." Which means either the Japanese creators are OK with certain racist stereotypes or they're big-time Simpsons fans (or maybe something about the classic "happy face" color, but I prefer to go with the other theories).
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:10 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:10 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
We have to stamp out art and creativity before it makes us all gay
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:11 PM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:11 PM on April 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
I'm five years old right now! And full of glee!
🐒💨🙊
posted by Omnomnom at 2:13 PM on April 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
🐒💨🙊
posted by Omnomnom at 2:13 PM on April 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
PROTIP: Install Symbola to get emojis to show up in your browser.
Or don't. I find that makes the whole issue much easier to handle.
(They're just not much fun if your personal OCR is buggered, when the general effect is having a message sprinkled with so much Simpsons scat, but even if I could see them in pristine detail I'd loathe them on the same aesthetic grounds I loathe "YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE MAD TO WORK HERE BUT IT HELPS!" notices.
I do not judge you if your aesthetic differs to mine, except inasmuch that I do.)
posted by Devonian at 2:43 PM on April 4, 2015
Or don't. I find that makes the whole issue much easier to handle.
(They're just not much fun if your personal OCR is buggered, when the general effect is having a message sprinkled with so much Simpsons scat, but even if I could see them in pristine detail I'd loathe them on the same aesthetic grounds I loathe "YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE MAD TO WORK HERE BUT IT HELPS!" notices.
I do not judge you if your aesthetic differs to mine, except inasmuch that I do.)
posted by Devonian at 2:43 PM on April 4, 2015
This👏is👏my👏favorite👏emoji👏usage👏
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:51 PM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:51 PM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Emojis are fine, but only in the subjunctive.
posted by blue_beetle at 3:07 PM on April 4, 2015
posted by blue_beetle at 3:07 PM on April 4, 2015
NSFW? 🚫👔 or 🚫🏢 or a blue-collar 🚫👷 (hard-hat emphasizes safety)
$20 Same As In town? 20💵 = 🌆
SingleLinks? 1🔗 (that's supposed to be chain links; no sausage link emojis yet, but hot dog is up for version 8.0) SingleLinkYouTube 1🔗U📺; SingleLinkVimeo 1🔗📺m; SingleLinkNewYorkTimes (like this post) 1🔗🗽📰; SingleLinkGuardian/Guarniad 1🔗🏰📰; other newspapers 1🔗📰; SingleLinkGawker 1🔗👀; SingleLinkBuzzFeed 1🔗🐝; SingleLinkFacebook 1🔗😶📕; SingleLinkReddit 1🔗🚽
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:55 PM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
$20 Same As In town? 20💵 = 🌆
SingleLinks? 1🔗 (that's supposed to be chain links; no sausage link emojis yet, but hot dog is up for version 8.0) SingleLinkYouTube 1🔗U📺; SingleLinkVimeo 1🔗📺m; SingleLinkNewYorkTimes (like this post) 1🔗🗽📰; SingleLinkGuardian/Guarniad 1🔗🏰📰; other newspapers 1🔗📰; SingleLinkGawker 1🔗👀; SingleLinkBuzzFeed 1🔗🐝; SingleLinkFacebook 1🔗😶📕; SingleLinkReddit 1🔗🚽
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:55 PM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
No hate on the sleezy winky drooling smiley? 😜
I was glad to know a new term, ghosting = quitting texting.
posted by b33j at 4:57 PM on April 4, 2015
I was glad to know a new term, ghosting = quitting texting.
posted by b33j at 4:57 PM on April 4, 2015
I'm a middle-aged man, I guess. (I'll be 44 next week.) My mostly younger coworkers and I use some emojis in Flowdock at work. We use them as shorthand for certain ideas to save typing. I can't parse a string of them together in a picture-sentence because between my progressive-lens eyeglasses and my non-retina screen, I honestly can't tell what many of them are supposed to be.
Some examples from this very post:
😘 Crying? Bloody nose?
💨 Puff of smoke? Sideways tornado? Fart?
🐒 Monkey? Rat?
🐉 Green blob?
⚾️ ??
🍆 Slug? Eggplant? Dildo?
If you're 14 years old and want to exclude me from your conversation, I guess that's understandable. If you're in your 20s or 30s and want to exclude me from your conversation, well, that kinda sucks.
posted by double block and bleed at 5:11 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Some examples from this very post:
😘 Crying? Bloody nose?
💨 Puff of smoke? Sideways tornado? Fart?
🐒 Monkey? Rat?
🐉 Green blob?
⚾️ ??
🍆 Slug? Eggplant? Dildo?
If you're 14 years old and want to exclude me from your conversation, I guess that's understandable. If you're in your 20s or 30s and want to exclude me from your conversation, well, that kinda sucks.
posted by double block and bleed at 5:11 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
(╯°□°)╯︵ sǝlnɹ ǝʌıʇɐɯɹou-ɹǝpuǝƃ
posted by mistersquid at 5:33 PM on April 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by mistersquid at 5:33 PM on April 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
double block and bleed:
Blowing a kiss
Fart (I assume, because on my phone at least it appears with body-related ones)
Monkey
Draygun
Baseball
Eggplant in the colonies; aubergine elsewhere; pictorial euphemism for penis for the immature among us.
And happy birthday for next week! 🎁
posted by billiebee at 5:52 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Blowing a kiss
Fart (I assume, because on my phone at least it appears with body-related ones)
Monkey
Draygun
Baseball
Eggplant in the colonies; aubergine elsewhere; pictorial euphemism for penis for the immature among us.
And happy birthday for next week! 🎁
posted by billiebee at 5:52 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Orthography recapitulates phylogeny.
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:28 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:28 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Grown men don't really fit the ideal of grown men anymore, so using the emoji is pretty much the same as hours of playing video games while holding their sleeping newborn, IMHO
posted by discopolo at 7:31 PM on April 4, 2015
posted by discopolo at 7:31 PM on April 4, 2015
Anyway, my formerlawyer taught me where the emoji keyboard was. And he's very grown up and has a wife and 2 kids.
It is kind of something dads would use.
posted by discopolo at 7:34 PM on April 4, 2015
It is kind of something dads would use.
posted by discopolo at 7:34 PM on April 4, 2015
these emojis are "recommended to be displayed with a yellow skin tone by default, unless a skin tone modifier is applied."
Smiley-face yellow is the de-facto standard for "no skin tone implied"; see also Lego, which consistently uses yellow for its general minifigure faces while using skin tones for matching specific characters/people in the licensed sets. If you want a single standard color for undefined skin, bright yellow is probably better than most options - offers good contrast for simplified line-drawing features, doesn't actually closely resemble any particular skin tone, while (thanks to its existing pervasiveness with smileys, Lego, Simpsons, etc) not seeming too alien - as green, purple, or blue might.
That said, I am white, and seeing yellow Lego faces as neutral may be more based in my personal perspective than I think it is. If anyone has other perspectives and opinions they can share I'd quite appreciate hearing them.
posted by NMcCoy at 8:02 PM on April 4, 2015
Smiley-face yellow is the de-facto standard for "no skin tone implied"; see also Lego, which consistently uses yellow for its general minifigure faces while using skin tones for matching specific characters/people in the licensed sets. If you want a single standard color for undefined skin, bright yellow is probably better than most options - offers good contrast for simplified line-drawing features, doesn't actually closely resemble any particular skin tone, while (thanks to its existing pervasiveness with smileys, Lego, Simpsons, etc) not seeming too alien - as green, purple, or blue might.
That said, I am white, and seeing yellow Lego faces as neutral may be more based in my personal perspective than I think it is. If anyone has other perspectives and opinions they can share I'd quite appreciate hearing them.
posted by NMcCoy at 8:02 PM on April 4, 2015
Quiche, anyone?
posted by anadem at 8:28 PM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by anadem at 8:28 PM on April 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Grown men should do whatever the fuck they want without worrying about what anyone else thinks about them. Otherwise they're not actually grown men.
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:47 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:47 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
PROTIP: Install Symbola to get emojis to show up in your browser.
I prefer not.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 9:20 PM on April 4, 2015
I prefer not.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 9:20 PM on April 4, 2015
Grandma Lesson
I received a lesson on lie and lay
From my 84 year old friend,
Just yesterday.
If it can't walk then it lays,
If it can walk it lies,
To which, "No shit!" I said.
Descarte said, "I think,
Therefore, I am." Popeye says,
I yam what I yam."
My elderly friend, "It walks,
Therefore it lies."
I can't tell if she
Is a Nihilist, an Existentialist,
Depressed, or a Realist.
I'm going to leave it lay,
Having had my Grandma lesson,
And lay like that yellow fog about my house,
No, just lie like everybody does.
;-)
posted by Oyéah at 9:20 PM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I received a lesson on lie and lay
From my 84 year old friend,
Just yesterday.
If it can't walk then it lays,
If it can walk it lies,
To which, "No shit!" I said.
Descarte said, "I think,
Therefore, I am." Popeye says,
I yam what I yam."
My elderly friend, "It walks,
Therefore it lies."
I can't tell if she
Is a Nihilist, an Existentialist,
Depressed, or a Realist.
I'm going to leave it lay,
Having had my Grandma lesson,
And lay like that yellow fog about my house,
No, just lie like everybody does.
;-)
posted by Oyéah at 9:20 PM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I have lots to say regarding this very important topic. But first : ✋, 🔨🕛.
posted by DrGirlfriend at 10:16 PM on April 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by DrGirlfriend at 10:16 PM on April 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
This particular grownup man, no. Other grownup men may do as they see fit, in emoji as in all else, however, and be judged accordingly by those who are inclined towards judging.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:16 PM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:16 PM on April 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Quiche, anyone?
I fucking love quiche. It took me until my early 30s to realize this because my older male relatives were always quoting the title of that stupid book when I was a little kid.
posted by brennen at 10:42 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I fucking love quiche. It took me until my early 30s to realize this because my older male relatives were always quoting the title of that stupid book when I was a little kid.
posted by brennen at 10:42 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Why would you lower yourself to be like a teenage girl when you're the boss of society??!1
+1
Now that Web and media companies are all starting to work in Slack, like all the finance people work in Bloomberg, this is just the way we talk.
Hmm. Yes, maybe it's because my husband is a Slack person that I find this article so offensive. I'm not sure though; he started using emoticons in email before emoji and long before I (a woman) finally had to acknowledge emoticons could actually be kind of useful.
But, "grown men"? Am I so humorless I'm not getting this whole article is tongue-in-cheek? I don't see the funny in comparing adult men to kids and adult women.
posted by torticat at 2:37 AM on April 5, 2015
+1
Now that Web and media companies are all starting to work in Slack, like all the finance people work in Bloomberg, this is just the way we talk.
Hmm. Yes, maybe it's because my husband is a Slack person that I find this article so offensive. I'm not sure though; he started using emoticons in email before emoji and long before I (a woman) finally had to acknowledge emoticons could actually be kind of useful.
But, "grown men"? Am I so humorless I'm not getting this whole article is tongue-in-cheek? I don't see the funny in comparing adult men to kids and adult women.
posted by torticat at 2:37 AM on April 5, 2015
Metafilter: 🐪💨
posted by cromagnon at 2:51 AM on April 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by cromagnon at 2:51 AM on April 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
This is just to 👄
I have 😬 🍴
the 🍑🍑
that were in
the ❄️📦
and which
🐏 were probably
🏦
for 🍶🍲
Forgive me
they were 😋💣
so 🍩🍦🎂
and so 🏂⛄️😬
posted by spitbull at 5:44 AM on April 5, 2015 [13 favorites]
I have 😬 🍴
the 🍑🍑
that were in
the ❄️📦
and which
🐏 were probably
🏦
for 🍶🍲
Forgive me
they were 😋💣
so 🍩🍦🎂
and so 🏂⛄️😬
posted by spitbull at 5:44 AM on April 5, 2015 [13 favorites]
I'm a 41 year old man (shit, middle aged 😒) who enjoys manly things like scotch and muscle cars. But I also decided long ago that trying to maintain appearances of manliness to others is too much damn work. So I wear my Lego SPACESHIP t shirt and send 😘 to my wife in the morning when I get to work. And sometimes 👉👌 when I'm feeling amorous and want to make her smile.
Also, my sense of humor tends toward the silly and absurd, so it makes me 😁 to say wow such doge 🐕
posted by Fleebnork at 6:32 AM on April 5, 2015
Also, my sense of humor tends toward the silly and absurd, so it makes me 😁 to say wow such doge 🐕
posted by Fleebnork at 6:32 AM on April 5, 2015
💁 works pretty well as an oh well shrug.
💁 look here
right here in my hand
at all the fucks I give
posted by phunniemee at 6:36 AM on April 5, 2015 [8 favorites]
💁 look here
right here in my hand
at all the fucks I give
posted by phunniemee at 6:36 AM on April 5, 2015 [8 favorites]
Wait until BUSINESS MEN hear about Line. Oh boy.
🍆👋 🍆👋 🍆👋
posted by egypturnash at 10:01 AM on April 5, 2015
🍆👋 🍆👋 🍆👋
posted by egypturnash at 10:01 AM on April 5, 2015
In the tradition of Looney Tunes, 🔩⚾️ ALMOST works—the first symbol appears as a bolt on my device.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:56 AM on April 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by infinitewindow at 10:56 AM on April 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
I am a 34-year-old man who recently discovered the joys of emoji when I found the little special characters popup in Yosemite. Like any reasonably intelligent person, I know when they're appropriate and when they're not. Twitter? Slack? Why the hell not? I've already started abusing Slack's custom emoji feature.
Anything that adds to the ways we communicate instead of taking them away is okay in my book.
Also, I made an emoji version of the extinction of the dinosaurs [self link]. So there's that.
posted by brundlefly at 12:39 PM on April 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Anything that adds to the ways we communicate instead of taking them away is okay in my book.
Also, I made an emoji version of the extinction of the dinosaurs [self link]. So there's that.
posted by brundlefly at 12:39 PM on April 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also, I made an emoji version of the extinction of the dinosaurs [self link]. So there's that.
I think a lot of the knee-jerk reaction to emojis is how they look. They do often look cartoony, almost for kids, without a whole lot of artistic merit. These, I like a lot. If they could make emojis that looks like they were made with some aesthetic discretion, I would enjoy using them a whole lot more.
posted by SpacemanStix at 3:00 PM on April 5, 2015
I think a lot of the knee-jerk reaction to emojis is how they look. They do often look cartoony, almost for kids, without a whole lot of artistic merit. These, I like a lot. If they could make emojis that looks like they were made with some aesthetic discretion, I would enjoy using them a whole lot more.
posted by SpacemanStix at 3:00 PM on April 5, 2015
O.M.G. artisanal emojis!!!!
posted by spitbull at 3:15 PM on April 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by spitbull at 3:15 PM on April 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
My favorite ones are the monkey emojis 🐵🙉🙈🐒🙊
posted by surazal at 3:19 PM on April 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by surazal at 3:19 PM on April 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Well, this article IS how I learned that the middle-finger emoji is in Unicode 7.0, so there's that. Also, I tried explaining it to mr epersonae (age 44) and his total deadpan expression was about perfect.
posted by epersonae at 8:41 PM on April 5, 2015
posted by epersonae at 8:41 PM on April 5, 2015
What you're saying is that we need the Eothko of emoji?
🔲
◻️
➖
posted by The Whelk at 10:02 PM on April 5, 2015
🔲
◻️
➖
posted by The Whelk at 10:02 PM on April 5, 2015
Grown men can smile, but not at other grown men
Eye contact between grown men must be limited to no more than three seconds to prevent them from accidentally kissing
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:19 PM on April 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
Eye contact between grown men must be limited to no more than three seconds to prevent them from accidentally kissing
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:19 PM on April 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
There is so, so much western historical writing on why smiling by anyone other than a foolish drunkard is completely and utterly unacceptable. Piles of it. Mountains of it. You have no idea.
posted by The Whelk at 10:25 PM on April 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 10:25 PM on April 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
"There is so, so much western historical writing on why smiling by anyone other than a foolish drunkard is completely and utterly unacceptable."
What a terrible world, one where smiling and laughter is stamped out.
posted by xarnop at 5:22 AM on April 6, 2015
What a terrible world, one where smiling and laughter is stamped out.
posted by xarnop at 5:22 AM on April 6, 2015
> Grown men should do whatever the fuck they want without worrying about what anyone else thinks about them. Otherwise they're not actually grown men.
^ I'm with this. What's the point of all our white-anglo-straight-male privilege if we're gonna have people telling us how to behave?
As Omnomnom said so succinctly above, 🐒💨🙊
posted by Autumn Leaf at 11:14 PM on April 8, 2015
^ I'm with this. What's the point of all our white-anglo-straight-male privilege if we're gonna have people telling us how to behave?
As Omnomnom said so succinctly above, 🐒💨🙊
posted by Autumn Leaf at 11:14 PM on April 8, 2015
I think a lot of the knee-jerk reaction to emojis is how they look. They do often look cartoony, almost for kids, without a whole lot of artistic merit.
Ha, that's exactly what I like about them.
posted by Omnomnom at 2:07 PM on April 9, 2015
Ha, that's exactly what I like about them.
posted by Omnomnom at 2:07 PM on April 9, 2015
For your AskMe relationship question tough-love response needs: a literal red flag 🚩🚩🚩
posted by almostmanda at 8:02 AM on April 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by almostmanda at 8:02 AM on April 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by munchingzombie at 7:52 AM on April 4, 2015 [38 favorites]