Emoji Of The Week

What Does The šŸ«” Saluting Face Emoji Mean?

Want to find out what the Saluting Face emoji can mean? Read this week's Emoji of the Week, where we highlight emojis with layered lore, nuanced meanings, and personality beyond just their pixels.

David Doochin

• 4 min read
What Does The šŸ«” Saluting Face Emoji Mean?

Thereā€™s one emoji that stays serving, as one of the most beloved recent additions to the emojiverse.

Reporting for duty as the Emojipedia Emoji of the Week isā€¦ the šŸ«” Saluting Face emoji.

@emojipediaofficial Nothing but respect for our #EmojiOfTheWeek šŸ«”šŸŽ–ļø #emojis #internet #internetculture #internettrends #twitter #military #memes #emojitok ā™¬ Epic Motivation - Kidmada

With a simple, often stoic countenance and hand slanted at forehead height, this emoji might not be giving us much to read on the surface. 

Above: šŸ«” Saluting Face emoji designs as they currently appear across different emoji design sets.

But true devotees of the stalwart little sometimes-smiling saluting smiley would tell you just how revolutionary it is. 

Itā€™s a relatively newer addition to our emoji lexicon, having only been recommended in September 2021 to be drafted into our devices, in the same brigade as emojis like the šŸ«  Melting Face, the šŸ«„ Dotted Line Face, and the šŸ„¹ Face Holding Back Tears. 

In the few years since then, itā€™s proven itself to be a reliable, almost irreplaceable emoji enlistee, climbing the ranks to become what many consider one of the internetā€™s most decorated soldiers. 

Okay, lots of obvious military references here, since, well, you know, the whole saluting thing. 

Above: a stock image of soldier saluting at sunset.

But the versatility of the šŸ«” Saluting Face goes far beyond the front lines. When we tell you there has rarely been an emoji so new to the scene with so much rangeā€¦  Itā€™s like the TimothĆ©e Chalamet of our keyboards.

šŸ«” MEANING OF THE SALUTING FACE EMOJI

The use cases of the šŸ«” Saluting Face emoji are seemingly endless. It can show respect, admiration, deference, agreement, or obedience with the purest, most earnest, unironic sincerityā€”or with the most sarcastic snark and not-so-subtle resistance imaginable. 

Your friendā€™s requesting that you pay them back for all those Ubers around town last night? Youā€™re paying your debts with honor. 

Your terrible boss just added another impossible task to your already insurmountable workload? Will do! No worries!

Youā€™re fully endorsing your bestieā€™s bad decisions? Itā€™s the emoji equivalent of ā€œas you should.ā€ 

As many emojis do, this one has its fair share of well-matched meme counterpartsā€”many having to do with a heart-wrenching farewell or submission or deference to a more powerful force, like a powerful panic-inducing puff of marijuana.

Above: a screenshot from an article by The Verge on Microsoft's discontination of Internet Exploer in 2021, followed by various saluting meme images.
Above: a meme of a boy in a scout uniform saluting with the caption: ā€œme when the weed tell me to get scaredā€.

šŸ¦ THE SALUTING FACE EMOJI AND THE TWITTER TAKEOVER

The šŸ«” Saluting Face became somewhat of a meme of its own in October 2022, after Elon Muskā€™s 44-billion-dollar purchase of Twitter, which would eventually undergo a rebrand the next year to become what is today known as X.

Upon being given an ultimatum that November to go ā€œextremely hardcoreā€ in ushering in the new ā€œTwitter 2.0ā€ or lose their jobs, handfuls of former so-called Tweeps hatched their own viral moment, signing off from their years of service to the platform publicly on Twitter and in internal Slack channels with messages containing the šŸ«” Saluting Face as a sort of final sendoff.

šŸŽ–ļø AN EMOJI FOR THE AGES

With so much range, itā€™s perhaps no surprise that Rolling Stone even deemed the Saluting Face the best emoji of 2022, citing its evolution from a straightforward gesture into something akin to a Swiss Army knife of a reaction emojiā€”an anchor in stormy seas, a reminder of our duty to something greater, and a pledge keep fighting the good fight, whatever that may be.

Some internet users even say itā€™s changed the trajectory of their lives.

So, Saluting Face emoji, whatever role we conscript you into in our internet communication, we want to say thank you for your service. 

Stay tuned next week for another Emoji of the Week.