I don't want to date myself, necessarily.  I also don't want you to think I'm bragging, but I am part of the generation that "invented emojis."  It's true! I was one of the 20-somethings on AOL messenger that pioneered the use of LOL, LMFAO, WTF, and ASL.

The last one is a conversation for a different article.

A Brief History of Internet Shorthand

The next step after using acronyms to let someone know you were "laughing out loud", was using the characters on the keyboard to make faces.  Something we called "emoticons".

:) was a smiley face

:( was a frowny face

:0 was a surprised face

;) winky face

:\ confused face

We got pretty good at drawing faces...

(>_<)  (._.) (';') (°レ°) (=^・^=)  \(◎o◎)/!

Do you speak "Emoji"?

I text quite a bit every day with my family and sometimes it's a little too easy to reply back with an emoji. If you and I are in a text conversation, there's a better chance I'm going to reply with a heart, sad face, thumbs down or hang loose emoji than actual text.

Emojis
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Adults Use Poop Emojis

Texting used to be considered a "kid thing".  Nowadays, I'm not sure if I could tell the difference if I saw a text thread with my kids or my high school buddies and me if the only thing we saw was emojis we used to communicate.

Yes, "responsible adults" use the poop emoji to convey their thoughts and feelings.

Poop emoji cookie
Sincerely Media/Unsplash
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Karens Can Take Fun Things Away

There's always going to be someone ruining the fun.  Even if that "fun" includes using a seemingly neutral, unremarkable emoji that is available to every smartphone user.

Dehumidifier Critic
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Whatever You Do...Don't Use This Emoji

According to the NYPost, using the thumbs-up emoji is "hostile".

Lifestyle and etiquette expert Elaine Swann says, “[emojis] can be interpreted as disrespectful. It can differ from generation to generation. Across the board, people want to know they’ve been heard and emojis do not convey that for everybody.”

So, be careful the next time your boss texts you to see if you can work next weekend.  Although I can think of more overtly offensive internet slang than this...

attachment-Thumbs up
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