How B’lureans interpret emojis in different ways

BENGALURU: Lalitha Babu, 52, loves sharing forwards with her contacts on WhatsApp and never forgets to add emojis to her messages. However, the banker says she recently realised not all interpretations of her emojis align with those of her daughter.
“I always used the emoji with a palm on its mouth to denote a flying kiss. My 20-year-old daughter, however, corrected me and said it means surprise, and the kiss emoji is a different one,” said Babu, adding that she is surprised that emojis mean different things to different people.
“I cannot send a message without an emoji as I feel it is rude or emotionless. But now, I wonder if the receiver understands the emoji in the same way I do,” quips Babu. “I use the recently added melting emoji to express that the weather is hot. But youngsters say it’s a sign of being embarrassed,” she adds.
Ahead of World Emoji Day on July 17, several Bengalureans shared with STOI how their interpretations of the symbols are different. Mostly, emojis are interpreted in a similar way by people in the same age group. A survey by Slack, a messaging platform, and Duolingo, an ed-tech company, covering 9,400 hybrid workers in North America, Asia and Europe found that people interpret even the seemingly laughing and crying emojis differently. (see box)
Rashmi Gowda Ramchandra, 30, a content manager at an ed-tech firm, says she has been sending the folded-hands emoji in response to good-morning messages from elders or to signify requests. “But it turns out I had been sending a high five to my grandparents every morning and it is not a folded-hands emoji. I was horrified to know it. I read it in one of the posts shared by someone from Gen-Z in my contacts,” said the millennial.
Even 44-year-old Nusrath Irshad had the same impression of the folded-hands emoji. “I used it to say ‘enough, thanks’ etc. I had no idea it meant high five,” the homemaker said, adding that she also used the emoji of a fist to ‘punch’ someone. “It is actually a fist bump and how youngsters greet each other,” she said.
Aamir Dakhani, 20, an engineering student and a GenZ member, said it is amusing to see people use emojis in contexts they are not meant for. “It is sometimes an advantage that not everyone from the older generation understands the meaning behind emojis,” said Dakhani, explaining how a classmate once sent an ‘abuse’ emoji to a teacher by mistake. “However, he was saved because the teacher did not understand it,” he chuckled, adding that a smiling emoji with a teardrop actually means a mini heart attack or panic attack, and not sadness.
Dakhani said understanding emojis is unique to every person. “I think most people, irrespective of their age, understand the basic emojis. The interpretations are flexible, and that is the joy of emojis,” he said.