Today it’s almost impossible to imagine chatting and social networks without using emoticons. They are able to give the network conversation the necessary degree of emotionality, which is difficult to express with the usual set of letters and symbols.
In recent years, the unique Japanese icon style that users have not encountered before has gained popularity. Many began to wonder what emoji means, why such a set of emoticons has gained immense popularity. After all, it is the Emoji standard that is used today in many instant messengers and social networks.
What does emoji mean? Where did the new emoticon standard come about?
Emoji first appeared in Japan. A unique style of icons has been developed since 1998. Despite the exotic origins of emoticons, even Europeans in most cases can easily understand what emoji means. Only in a minority of cases do one have to turn to directories on the Internet to understand what an image means.
For the first time, the operator NTT-Docomo began working with Emoji. The emoticon standard appealed to managers of large companies based in the United States. As a result, even the guys from Google began to use them. In 2009, they connected emojis to their Gmail mail system. But even after this step, the standard still has not gained the popularity that it has now.
In 2009, many users still found it difficult to say what emoji emoticons mean when they met unusual images. The real success came to the developers of the standard in 2010. That's when Emoji was officially included in the Unicode standard.
How to pronounce correctly
There are 2 main pronunciation variants of the foreign name Emoji. In both cases, the emphasis is placed on the letter “o”. Some fans of the presented style of icons believe that it is more correct to say “emoji”. However, the pronunciation of “emoji” is mostly common. That is how sound that is close to the Japanese original is achieved.
To better understand what emoji emoticons mean, you need to understand the etymology (origin) of the term. The name of the original icon style consists of two Japanese words:
- "E" - "picture";
- “Moji” - “letter”, “written symbol”.
If you combine the two words together, then in the Russian version there will be something similar to a “letter-picture”. Although, perhaps a more suitable option would be a "symbol-picture."
Emoji Features
Emoji icons have much in common with standard chat emoticons like ICQ and others. But there are significant differences. So, emoji symbols are noticeably larger than in the classic version of "funny faces". They are also much more diverse, they allow you to convey almost the full gamut of human emotions that he is only able to experience.
Why is it often difficult for representatives of European culture to understand what emoji means? After all, they are so similar to standard emoticons. A problem arises when a person encounters an incomprehensible symbol that he has not encountered before. The reason for this phenomenon is the origin of the icon style. After all, it was developed in the Land of the Rising Sun. So only representatives of Japanese culture easily understand the meaning of any symbol. The rest of the people may need clarification.
Most popular emoji icons
Emoji icon set provides a huge number of different images for all occasions. One of the most colorful characters in the Japanese emoticon set is the monkey. What is remarkable about the image of this animal? And what do the monkey icons in emoji mean? Without further explanation, it is really difficult to understand the meaning of this symbol. However, the explanation is quite simple.
The monkey, who covers her eyes, advises the interlocutor on the other side of the screen to "not notice evil." To be more precise, by sending an image of a cute primate to an opponent, a person asks him not to concentrate on the negative side of the matter. In this way, you can also make the interlocutor understand that his message seems evil and repulsive.
Many people keen on communicating on the Internet are also interested in the question of what emojis with the image of a white flower mean. Some believe that if they were sent a similar message, it means that the person trying to flirt. In fact, a similar symbol in Japanese culture only means a well-done homework. In this way, the person tells the other side that he did a great job.