Revelation: Emoji expression of the past and present life

Monday, the Unicode Standard 7.0 Edition officially released, added about 250 emoji expression, they will replace more words, enter our life, let the news become more interesting. But wait, who the hell decides these emoticons? What is the process of emoji expression?

The founder of emoji expression

The emoji expression is a visual shorthand symbol originally invented by a Japanese named Shigetaka Kurita (Li Tanaka) in 1999.

The first thing to make clear is that there is a standard expression like "=" here, not more complicated like this:

Shrug: "ˉt (ツ)/ˉ"

Lift table: (╯°-°) ╯︵┻━┻

The word emoji is derived from the Kobue (e = picture) (Mo = write) character (ji= character) in the Japanese language. Kurita created these symbols in order to provide richer emotional overtones in message conversations than traditional plain words or simple expressions, so that dialogue is not misinterpreted.

For example: A friend told you that he had a promotion. You can return him a smiley face, but such information may be too simple, as if you are just perfunctory. It can't really express your passion. And the simple return of two words "Congratulations" is the same effect.

However, if you do:

The feelings and emotions you convey are more specific ("Great, rich, let's Celebrate"), which is more simple and effective than saying anything.

Adding a emoji expression to a text-only conversation can also help clarify your tone. As Kurita said, "If someone just answers ' Wakarimashita ', you might not know if he's mildly saying," I know, "or cool," That's great, I finally understand! " "It's two diametrically opposed feelings. You don't know what is in the head of the person who wrote this sentence. ”

However, the emoji expression itself can still be an ambiguous model. Take "nail" expression as an example:

The expression can be simply expressed as "my nails are done", or, in the right context, may be an arrogant expression, like "Go Your own way and let others say," See what I've just done, or "I don't care". These multi-level interpretation is also the charm of emoji expression.

is "Emoji" plural or singular?

There is no consensus on this point. Some publications, such as The Guardian and slate, use "emojis". And time, the USA today and the Associated Press, whether singular or plural, use emoji.

Sources of emoji

The first group of 250 or so emoji expressions came from Kurita's former company DoCoMo. But it failed to obtain copyright for the design, which allowed other companies to use emoji. DoCoMo's rivals and technology standards companies such as Apple are using them in large numbers or designing their own emoji emoticons. Eventually, hundreds of emoji expressions were encoded in Unicode. Since most modern computer systems are compatible with Unicode in the 2010, emoji has become popular around the world.

Emoji's expression originated in Japan, so there may be some confusion in "translation". For example, this "sweaty" expression:

Big drops of sweat on the head are popular in Japanese anime, symbolizing stress, frustration, confusion and embarrassment.

"I really want to know how well they are used and whether there are any geographical nuances ... There may be some things only the Japanese can understand, or only Americans will understand, "Kurita said.

Who decides which emoji can be included in the standard?

The Unicode Association is responsible for determining this standard. It is therefore up to them to decide which emoji will be widely used. The association consists of computer companies, software manufacturers, database manufacturers, research institutes, and so on. The Unicode Technical Committee, a Committee of the Association, specifically responsible for developing and maintaining Unicode standards, including characters, scripts, and emoji expressions.

If you think which emoji expression should be included in the standard, then you can fill out a form and start a long, formal approval process. The final standardization of a proposal often takes several years, and every declared character, emoji expression, or something like that is examined very carefully.

To allow a new emoji expression to be approved, it must be possible to demonstrate that the emoji has been widely used and will continue to be used after it has been incorporated into the Unicode standard.

The diversity of emoji expression

Except for a "hooded man" and "a man wearing a shorty" exception, the emoji "people" are white, and many are calling for a change in the status quo. In March this year, Apple said it was working with the Unicode association to promote emoji diversification, but the non-white expression was still not seen in the current update. The association says it is still preparing for it.

Emoji face cheese crisis

The lack of a "cheese" emoticons may be the biggest tragedy in the emoji world, "Mexican volume" followed by:

Even a "suspended suit" can get an emoticon, but cheese or Mexican rolls don't, which is odd. As mentioned earlier, the approval process is lengthy and specific, but any cheese or Mexican roll lover can apply. There are no reports of companies or individuals interested in participating in the application, but there seems to have been a emoji expression for hot dogs.

What are the new emoji?

In July, there will be 274 new emoji expressions, including: "Bed", "Detective/Spy", "Weight lifter", "suspended suit-wearing man" and so on.

Here is a complete list. Most of the emoji expressions added this time are derived from the wingding and webdings two fonts.

Unicode was released in Monday, but the new emoji expression can be used on mobile phones until updates are made on iOS and Android platforms.