John M. Kelly

Among the newest members in the ever-growing emoji family in 2019 is Yawning Face, which is covering its mouth with a hand. This hand is notable not only because the gesture is central to depicting the act of a yawn and the tiredness or boredom the emoji is meant to

Whenever I share the work I do in defining emoji for Emojipedia, I inevitably meet a two-part response. First, people fawn over their faves. Hearts, smiles, and, yes, poo 💩 pile high among them. Then, they flick on their phones and present to me a character that has been confounding them.

As clever as the explanation may be, the children’s game of tag is not short for touch and go. Something posh, or luxurious and stylish, isn’t so called because swankier cabins on ships traveling between Britain and India were once located port outward, starboard home. And no, shipping

While we may be seeing greater convergence in their overall design, emojis still have variations in their appearance across platforms that can significantly alter their tone and personality. In a playful exercise earlier this month, we analyzed the temperament of two such emojis—👼 Baby Angel and 👿 Angry Face With Horns—

Earlier this month, the Unicode Consortium debuted its final list of new emojis for 2019—and we debated it. Some men felt challenged by what Pinching Hand implied about their bodies while some women challenged Drop of Blood for not being explicit enough about theirs. If I see this next

A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words. So, too, at least in the realms of texting and social media, is an emoji. Behold the wide eyes and red cheeks of 😳 Flushed Face. In recent years, 😳 Flushed Face has made some headlines all on its own. That is,

As we saw in our Emojiology on 👻 Ghost, Halloween is downright haunted by emojis to mark the occasion. Close behind it, on the holiday front, is Christmas. From a 🎁 Gift under the 🎄 Christmas Tree to a 🍪 Cookie and 🥛 Glass of Milk set out for 🎅 Santa Claus, we have a sleighful

As many of us around the world move into the colder months of the year, we bundle up our emojis with scarves 🧣, coats 🧥, and gloves 🧤, prepared for the freezing snow ❄️ and icy winds 🌬️. We also gather around a toasty fire, or 🔥 Fire, an emoji that burns bright and keeps us

When it comes to emojis, there’s no time of year quite like Halloween. We fill our texts and tweets with the many tricks and treats emojis offer for the holiday, from jack-o’-lanterns 🎃 and candy 🍬 to bats 🦇 and spider webs 🕸️ to frightened faces 😱 and devilish grins 😈 to vampires 🧛 and

Think emojis are all just fun and games? Then you haven’t met one that manifests some of our deepest, darkest fears 😱. It wants to give you a balloon 🎈. It wants to charm you with juggling 🤹 at your birthday party 🎂. It wants to lure you under its big top 🎪. It’

In our Emojiology series so far, we’ve clarified the confusion of 😪 Sleepy Face, reconciled the conflicts of 😭 Loudly Crying Face, and unpacked the complexities of 😏 Smirking Face and 😬 Grimacing Face. But emojis, lest we forget, aren't all trouble and strife. They are fun and playful, too, like

You know something’s up when the dictionary is at a loss for words. “We’re gonna be honest with you,” an article on Dictionary.com admits. “Even the dictionary can have a hard time putting things into words 😬.” What tongue-tied the dictionary? 😬. That little teeth-clencher, officially known as 😬 Grimacing

We use emojis to help us express emotions, but sometimes it’s the emojis themselves that bring them on. Exhibit A: 😭. Social media manager Jasmyn Lawson ignited a Twitter debate last year when she proposed some guidelines for crying emojis: Use these emojis for crying 😪😰😢😥 Not this emoji 😭 That one

By many measures, 😂 Face With Tears of Joy has led the pack as the most used emoji in recent years. Dogging its heels, though, is another smiley: 😍 Smiling Face with Heart-Eyes. In 2017, this emoji ranked 4th on Apple platforms and 2nd on Facebook. 😍 Smiling Face with Heart-Eyes has a

One of the great virtues of emojis are their ability to mark tone where plain text cannot. A simple ❤️ Red Heart can add affection to a text message. A string of 😂 😂 😂 Face With Tears of Joy can show we find something funny in a social media post. Yet in the

You might have scrolled past this emoji—😪—and puzzled about what it means, exactly. Tucked in a column with 🤤 Drooling Face and 😵 Dizzy Face , it's a smiley with closed eyes and a slack jaw. A blue droplet drips from the middle of its face. Is 😪 crying out of