Emoji-Speak

Whenever my best friend and I hang out or carpool somewhere and she drops me off at my house afterward, I turn into an overly-cautious helicopter parent and ask her to text me when she gets home; especially in inclement weather. I just like to make sure that my pals get home okay, considering the absurd driving habits of people in our area of Pennsylvania, as well as the numerous winding, pot-hole covered roads.

However, this “tradition” has evolved into her sending me a random emoji when she gets home, and I send one back as confirmation. Similarly, when she arrives at my house to pick me up, she signals to me with an emoji so I will know to come outside. This is our most recent exchange, when we worked a couple of overnight shifts together and carpooled:

For the emoji impaired, the eyeglasses are her telling me that she has arrived home safely, and the cheeseburger is me confirming that I have received her message. The ensuing cow, several hours later, means that she has arrived at my house to pick me up for our next shift. The entire herd of cows that follow the first are because I am slow and had yet to come out to her car. The sleepy face is her getting home safely once again, and the sheep is my confirmation. You may be able to tell that the type of emoji usually doesn’t matter, for these exchanges.

As a simpler example, this is how we sent Christmas cheer to one another:

Very to the point. We do this for practically every holiday; bunnies and chicks on Easter, ghosts and pumpkins for Halloween. Maybe a tree on arbor day. Cakes and party-poppers for birthdays. Etc, etc.

On some level, we could probably communicate entirely in emojis. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing, really. My personal favorite emoji is the octopus, and I use it whenever I can. Sometimes I just tack it on to the end of a text, without any context or previous references to cephalopods. It’s like adding a little smile at the end, only with eight legs (the picture technically has six, but I don’t think it’s meant to be a squid.) It actually used to be a lot cuter, but my keyboard recently updated, so my entire emoji scheme is different, but the new versions have grown on me. I am also very fond of the various cat faces and the elephant. I do refrain (typically) from using them in professional correspondence, however… though a smiley may slip by, on occasion.

During the most recent season of American Horror Story, my sister and I did not watch the episodes under the same roof, but we did text throughout each episode, predominantly using emojis. I’ve since switched phones, so I don’t have my entirely emoji-based, masterful recap of one episode any longer, but here are the predictions we exchanged for the finale:

Honestly, I believe our predictions were pretty spot on, and the entire exchange took less than a minute. My parents and I text in this way too, sometimes; mostly me, but they’re not strangers to emoji-speak. Questions via text can be answered by a “thumbs up.” That’s better than the ever-infuriating “K.” I’d much prefer to get an emoji in my inbox than “K.”

Despite the claims that current language and communication trends are “dumbing down” the future generations, I think the value of emojis is often overlooked. I don’t think my communication skills have suffered much from the introduction of smileys and animals and various other symbols. With emojis, you can say so much in so few words… or so few images, if the case may be. They’re sort of like new-age hieroglyphs, only less… instrumental to the understanding and evolution of human communication. Like, why tell my friend that I’m annoyed with something when i can just sent the (-_-) face emoji? It gets to the point so much faster than typing out an explanation, and they are multi-purpose. Emojis can help convey emotion; interpret feeling. And add emphasis. Cat faces make everything better! EVERYTHING!

Sometimes it’s silly, sure. Emojis aren’t necessary – and shouldn’t really be used as a form of communication on their own, I guess. But in defense of emojis, they are a nice supplement to the text-based communication AND they’re mostly universal! When used appropriately, they’re harmless – and a few extra smileys or a tasteful octopus can even brighten someone’s day.