Emojis Are Life

I really love Emojis. Especially the happy ones.

To me words convey ideas and part of feelings while emoji's share feelings and part of ideas.

For fun, I decided to research the subject of Emojis and what I found is so fascinating.

First there is a difference between emoji and emoticon.

Emoticon is the first of the two words to have been discovered. It is a portmanteau, meaning that two words were blended together to create one. Emotion + icon = emoticon.

Emoticons are basically just punctuation arranged to create facial expressions.

Here are some code (punctuation marks) for some of our favorites ;)

Saved from here

According to this article emoticons first appeared in newspapers in 1881. That's like A LONG TIME AGO, GUYS! Next time someone old tells you, "We didn't use smiley faces when I was young," ask them, "Are you sure?" According to that same article emoticons weren't actually introduced to computers until about a hundred years later in 1982.

Emoji is a word created in the 1990s from the Japanese meaning picture + letter or character.

Emoji is actually a Japanese thing. You know those people that love anime and manga? If you've ever told them they are crazy you probably shouldn't anymore because you and they have a lot more in common than you realize.

I love this video sharing all about emojis. It's really worth watching! Love what he said about the Bible and the first appearance of the winky face: " 'And God created the Heaven and Earth *winky face*' "

I think, for me at least, the most important of all of these faces are the smiley faces. Which have been around for quite sometime, even outside of emojis and emoticons. This article talks about how the smiley face was (and was not) created. Back in the 60s Harvey Ball was hired to create an image to life morale in the company. It took him ten minutes and he was paid $45.

Ten minutes and $45 is all it took to revolutionize happiness. Haha.

Goes to show that you can do something, little or big, you never know what will matter fifty years down the road. So don't say, "I can't do anything. I'm just one person." Or "I'm just an ad man, so my work isn't going to matter to anyone."

Everything matters.

One of the first smiley faces, created by Harvey Ball, a graphic artist and an ad man. 

American readers, do any of you remember back when Walmart used to hand out smiley face stickers? I really believe that may be where my love for smiley faces grew. I loved those stickers, even after I felt too old to accept them and wear them.

They are just so happy. Who doesn't like a smile?

Here's a REALLY fun podcast to listen to about emojis. It talks about the history of emojis and asks the questions, "Can one communicate with only emojis and are we heading in that direction?" A couple people even did an experiment by creating an emoji-only texting app. Such an entertaining listen.

My Favorite Emojis

These are the emojis I use the most, lately, and what they mean to me:

Upside down smiley: Cute and unique, how I feel when I send it. I love this article my cousin wrote on it. 

Green heart: Because you can give love to every one and it's clean, not romantic.

Butterfly: To me this one means hope, as in little things matter. This feeling is influenced by the butterfly effect theory. 

Laughing Tears: This is how I love laughing - hard. 

Laughing tears sideways: I remember this face coming out and being so excited about it, because to me it's one level up from the last one. Meaning, it's even better. 

Smile and hands: This says hello, I like you or like what you just said. 

Tongue-sticking-out: Normally I'm just using this to say "I'm crazy", "You're crazy", "This is crazy".

Zombie lady: How I feel after a long week of cleaning houses. 

Dancing lady: How I feel inside, no matter if I'm dead tired or not. 

X Eyes: "This is insane", "I'm confused", "I'm depressed with all the stupid idiots".

Flushed Smile: So happy my smile is warm. 

Yummy face: Yummy food or yummy idea.

Exploding head: "No way!" "You're insane!" "I'm insane." "I hate the world."

Winky face: Something or someone is clever. 

I'm sure you guys also see the typed emojis I use a lot. My favorite is one I thought I made up:

;D 

This is my smile. Happy and widemouthed, teeth showing with my left eye slitting in an inviting  wink. Just totally friendly and engaging, "Let's talk and be friends! Or I can prank you with this lovely idea." 

But after some googling I found that it's not my own made up smiley face. Other people use it, too, I guess. 

But not anyone I know! I've received tons of compliments on that semi colon + capital D. "Wow, that's so cool!"

Yes, it is. But I guess it's not completely mine ;/ Ah, but I shan't be sad for long ;D

What's your thoughts on emojis? And tell me what some of your favorites ones are and why!