There’s an art to expressing yourself through characters. A carefully chosen emoji can make it clear when you’re not being serious 🙃, it can help you to show your emotions when you can’t find the words💕, and make sure everyone knows when you find something hilarious🤣. Some linguists even suggest that ‘emoji’ is an emerging language in its own right. In many ways, emojis have become a universal digital language — helping people communicate emotion, humour and personality instantly, no matter where they are in the world.
To celebrate #WorldEmojiDay, we’re taking a closer look at these fun little designs to answer the important questions: What is the world’s most popular emoji 🤔? How many emojis are there 🧐? And what does the word emoji even mean 🤷? From ancient symbols to viral internet culture, the story of emoji is far more fascinating than you might expect.
We ❤️ the world’s first emoji
Some say you can trace emoji-style icons all the way back to the hieroglyphs of the Ancient Greeks, but emoji faces as we know them today didn’t emerge until the late 90s. Long before smartphones existed, people were using visual symbols to tell stories, express emotions and share ideas.
Inspired by the emoticons used in chatrooms during the early days of the internet (remember these :-) ?), designer Shigetaka Kurita is credited with creating the very first set of emojis for DOCOMO, a Japanese mobile phone operator (although this has been recently disputed). Working within a tiny 12x12 pixel grid, Kurita designed a collection of expressive symbols that could add personality and emotion to digital communication.
Starting with a red heart, Kurita went on to create a collection of 176 emojis, which were recently showcased at MOMA (the Museum of Modern Art) in New York. From weather symbols to smiley faces and tiny food icons, the original collection laid the foundations for the emoji explosion we know today.
What’s in a name?
The word ‘Emoji’ might sound like the English word for emotion, which would make sense given that the characters were designed to help you express yourself. However, the phrase actually originates from the Japanese words for picture (pronounced ‘eh’) and letter (pronounced ‘moji’). Mind blown 🤯 That little misunderstanding probably helped emoji catch on globally because people naturally associate them with emotional expression. After all, imagine receiving the message: “Fine.” Now compare it with: “Fine 😂” — completely different energy.
The 🌎’s most popular?
According to Emojipedia, the most popular emoji on Twitter in 2021 was ‘tears of joy’ 😂 -perhaps because a simple ha! doesn’t create the same emotional impact. However, despite this emoji’s popularity amongst millennials, Gen Z are apparently not as keen on it – so adding ‘tears of joy’ to your next message could be letting everyone know you’re no longer in your twenties. Instead, many younger users now lean towards alternatives like the loudly crying face 😭 or the skull 💀 to show they’ve found something unbelievably funny. Apparently, even emojis go in and out of fashion. Meanwhile, the humble red heart ❤️ continues to remain one of the world’s most loved emojis across every generation.
✨New year, new emojis✨
At the time of writing, Unicode has categorised an incredible 3,633 emojis, and new designs are added to the official list each year. The latest update includes seven new faces and a coral emoji to represent climate change. Recent additions have also focused on inclusivity, accessibility and representing a wider range of cultures, identities and everyday experiences. There are now emojis for everything from bubble tea 🧋 to melting faces 🫠.
We think it’s about time they updated the sock emoji to something with a little more character 🧦🤣🤟 Maybe something with a little more personality and flair to match the creativity of today’s emojis 🧦✨
👑 One was very amused
X has its own hashtag-activated emojis called hashflags. During Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, users who posted official hashtags such as #PlatinumJubilee would unlock PJ, an adorable corgi emoji. What a royally good idea. Brands and social media platforms love custom emojis because they encourage people to join conversations and share content. It turns out humans simply enjoy tiny pictures more than expected.
A secret code 🤫
Context is everything and many of the most popular emojis mean something different to those in the know. You’re probably aware that the aubergine emoji has very little to do with moussaka, but did you know that the 🐐emoji could mean you’re incredibly talented – the G.O.A.T or greatest of all time? Some emoji meanings have evolved so much that they now function almost like internet slang. The fire emoji 🔥 often means something is exciting or impressive, while the loudly crying face 😭 is frequently used to show uncontrollable laughter rather than sadness. Online communities also love giving familiar emojis completely unexpected meanings, turning them into inside jokes almost overnight.
💪Facing up to a big challenge
Emojis have even inspired Guinness World Record attempts. To celebrate #WorldEmojiDay and the launch of The Emoji Movie, hundreds of people around the world dressed up as their favourite emojis to create a new record. This global effort followed in the footsteps of the largest ever human smiley, which was created in the Philippines and involved more than 8,000 people. Large emoji celebrations around the world have included giant costume parades, massive crowd recreations and people dressing up as their favourite smiley faces. That’s a lot of positive energy 😀
Express yourself with ChattyFeet socks
If you love to show your emotions through characters, why stop at emojis? Wear your feelings on your feet and invite a little more play into your day. At ChattyFeet, we believe everyday essentials should have a little more personality.
You could be a serious artist, like Frida Callus, or have a scream with Screamy Ed. Whether you’re feeling artistic, dramatic, witty or wonderfully weird, there’s a sock character ready to match your mood. Explore the range now – it’s the 🐝🐝🦵🦵.
