12 Fun facts about emojis you might not know

No one doubts that languages ​​are man’s greatest creation. Without words, the development of our species would have been virtually impossible. In fact, every invention needs to be explained. Neither mathematics nor physics nor music could be taught if words did not exist. But we must admit that sometimes they do not express in a synthetic way what we need to say. So we turn to images… and that’s where one of man’s last great inventions appears: the emoji.

O awesome.club loves these great symbols, so he wants to share with you some information that will help you learn more about them. We hope the post gets lots of hearts and smiley faces!

Just as there is World Animal Day, Friend’s Day and Valentine’s Day, there is also World Emoji Day. Undoubtedly, these symbols deserve it, as they help us communicate faster and more effectively every day. On many occasions, we even managed a smile. The date chosen to celebrate them is July 17th for a simple reason: in 2002, on that day, the Apple calendar (ICal) was introduced. This day was created by Jeremy Burge, the founder of emojipedia.

THE Mona Lisaa Divine Comedya Ninth SymphonyO Battleship Potemkin🇧🇷 Don Quixote of La Mancha🇧🇷 The merchant of Venice… All these great human inventions have a creator, and the emoji, of course, too. His name is Shigetaka Kurita, a Japanese designer born in 1972. We don’t know if his name will remain in history along with those of the great geniuses, but our life would not be the same without him.

Japan usually stands out for its great technological advances, so it is not surprising that, as the emoji was created by a designer from that country, the word with which he named his creature has Asian origins. The term is a combination of “image” (e) and “letter” (moji). Although the term has not yet been incorporated into the dictionary, we assume that it will not be long before it happens.

It’s not easy for people to accept the risk that a new product entails, so inventors need to take a breather after every “no” they get to make their invention successful. With Shigetaka Kurita it was no exception. When he presented the emoji idea to Panasonic, the company declined and suggested that he design them himself. If Shigetaka hadn’t insisted, communication between people today would be very different.

We don’t know if the world is a place where laughter reigns, but the crying face is the most used emoji on the entire planet. We suggest that you experiment with reviewing your history. You will surely realize that it is the emoji we use the most when we express what we feel.

It seems that the French have a good reputation for being romantic, and we are not just referring to the beautiful songs of Jacques Brel, Édith Piaf or Charles Aznavour, nor the The Lady of Camellias or Alfred de Musset’s novels. According to statistics, the first 9 in a list of the 10 most used emojis in France are hearts. For some reason they say that Paris is the city of love.

Until 2015, emojis were only one color, and somehow they were understood to represent only white-skinned people. So, after a request, Apple demanded that these symbols be open to the diversity of ethnicities and cultures. In this way, in 2015 the company launched new emojis that represented the skin colors of all social groups, and we celebrate this decision!

But it’s not all joy and fun in the world of emojis. Some of them have sparked heated controversy and even legal threats. As an example, we can mention the case of the cheeseburger emoji. On the other hand, in 2017, an Indian lawyer threatened to legally sue WhatsApp if it did not remove the emoji from its hand with its middle finger up, because he found it highly offensive. Another example is the companies Apple, Facebook and Google, which removed the revolver emoji from the list.

Although Shigetaka Kurita is the creator of the emoji, the smiley face didn’t have to wait for it to be born. In an excavation in the city of Carchemish, located between Turkey and Syria, a 1,700-year-old ship was found. In it you can clearly see a smiling face which, apparently, can be considered the first emoji in history.

Paella, without a doubt, is one of the most exquisite dishes in the world’s cuisine, and emojis couldn’t turn a merchant’s ear to the fact. However, when Apple revealed this food, it aroused a barrage of criticism, as it did not respect the ingredients of the traditional Valencian paella. So the company had to modify it to suit the world famous recipe.

Traditional media have not been excluded from the emoji craze. And if you think that a serious newspaper like The Wall Street Journal would turn his back on these friendly friends, he is wrong, because in its online version it has enabled an application through which news, book titles, movies and music can be translated into emojis. The new tool is used daily and loved by millions of readers around the world.

Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick in 1851. For many critics, this is the great American novel of the 19th century, but the writer could never have imagined that his work would have the meaning it had, and that there would be an entirely emoji version of it. Yes, even if it seems like a lie, the work exists.

Do you know any other curious facts about emojis that we haven’t mentioned in this post? What is your favorite? Please tell us in the comments.