Show me someone who’s never used an emoji before and we’ll show you the rock they’ve been living under. Over the past few years, the yellow  anthropomorphic heads conceptualized from messenger smileys have largely shaped interaction in today’s digital age. Though initially created by Japanese developers as a way to add a more personal touch to everyday digital communication, we have since incorporated it into our daily lives, changing how we relate. Emoji’s have come to imply other meanings, beyond what was initially intended for them. While a rose remains a rose, and cake remains cake, in honour of world emoji day, here are some of the smileys that have taken on a life of their own.

The smile

Beyond the genuine happiness it’s intended for, the smile emoji is just used as a soft blush that may indicate more sinister reality. From the “just withdrew the last penny in my account 🙂” to “Been waiting at the ATM for an hour and counting 🙂”, the smile has made rounds with social media posts as a misomner for how humans internalise chaos by putting up a smiling face.

The Egg plant

Sexting is a pastime for many with and the egg plant is often used to denote the male penis due to its phallic shape. In 2015, the American Dialect Society actually declared the eggplant to be the ‘Most Notable Emoji’ in their Word of the Year vote. For an emoji to gain that kind of traffic, it means millennials’ talk a lot about sex , because the big question remains how an innocent vegetable inadvertently became an emblem for our collective perversions.

The Peach

Coming in second to the eggplant, is the peach emoji, also used in the same context with the former. While the eggplant represents the male genitalia, the peach emoji is symbolic of the backside. The peach usually prevails in conversations about exchanged nudes and thirst traps.

Black moon

The Black moon smiley has got to be one of the most suggestive smileys ever. The very cynically dark deceptive looking face, is expressed as the playful look you give to a friend when they are guilty of a crime. Butthe Black Moon has come to be associated with emphasizing sexual suggestions, usually common in morning after texts between two people who just had sex hours prior.

Three droplets of water

Just maybe we shouldn’t question the corruptible human mind but the creator(s) of these emoji’s instead. I mean people couldn’t have begun alluding to any raunchiness, if not for such picturesque symbolisms why should anyone think of anything beyond raindrops. One can still innocently assume these three droplets as simply water related inferences but that’s only if you can get past what the idea of ‘wetness’ or ‘thirst’ it unambiguously connotes to two people coyly propositioning each other for sex.

Tongue

Of a billion emojis sent worldwide, a million are the Tongue emoji sent through smart phones for raunchy reasons. This emoji has gone from an innocuous human tongue 👅 to sexting’s favourite shorthand to play pool, fellatio and foreplay involving wet kisses and sticking tongues in strange places.

The eyes

Among the most notable of the smileys is the eyes emoji glancing slightly to the left— and almost certainly the most important signifying a deceitful act or used to indicate pervy eyes. The eyes emoji 👀 is  a go-to way to describe uncomfortable or provocative social situations to unmannered, reflexive reactions. It’s also used for questioning, it says “See what I did there?” It’s interesting not just cause it suggests emoji convo can be truly intimate but also because emojis play on ambiguity in a way that implies an altered mental state.

Feature Image Credit: Twitter/@moonemojii

Fisayo is a journalist who thinks writing is hard and reading too. But her journey somewhere reveals, words are like pawns on chessboard when writing. She wants to see, create and share with the world, experience & communicate these experiences. Tweet at her @fisvyo

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