Whether it’s a happy smiling face or a cheeky aubergine, emoji are now a staple part of many Britons’ day-to-day messages.
But if you’re a regular emoji user, a new report could fill you with dread.
Ahead of World Emoji Day next week, experts from musicMagpie have revealed Britain’s top 10 emoji ‘icks’.
Their findings suggest that several popular icons have us cringing – with the ‘two-hearts’ emoji topping the list as the most ick-inducing.
Liam Howley, Chief Marketing Officer at musicMagpie said: ‘With so much of our communication being conducted by technology devices these days, it’s no wonder the ick has transcended the physical world and entered the digital world.’
Ahead of World Emoji Day next week, experts from musicMagpie have revealed Britain’s top 10 emoji ‘icks’. Pictured: the ‘winking face’ emoji
Their findings suggest that several popular icons have us cringing – with the ‘two-hearts’ emoji topping the list as the most ick-inducing
For the survey, musicMagpie asked 2,000 British adults their views on various popular emoji.
The results revealed that the top emoji ick was the ‘two hearts’ icon, with 45 per cent of respondants finding this emoji cringe-worthy.
This wasn’t the only heart emoji that was considered an ick, with the ‘heart suit’, ‘red heart’, and ‘smiling face with hearts’ also featured in the top 10.
Other faces to hit the top list were the ‘kissing face’, ‘winking face’, and ‘smiling face with open mouth and tightly-closed eyes’.
Meanwhile, rounding out the top 10 were the ‘person with folded hands’, ‘fire’ and ‘rolling eyes’.
In contrast, the least cringeworthy emoji were found to be the ‘party popper’, ‘flushed face’ and ‘partying face’ emoji.
It isn’t just emoji that have us cringing in messages.
musicMagpie’s research also found that poor grammar and punctuation are a big bugbear for 24 per cent of Brits.
‘It’s clear from the research that we have more than just a bit of brushing up to do on our tech manners,’ Mr Howley added.
musicMagpie’s research also found that poor grammar and punctuation are a big bugbear for 24 per cent of Brits
The report comes shortly after a study suggested that using emoji in work emails could be more of a hindrance than a help.
Scientists indicate that using smiley face emoji in work-related emails can make you seem incompetent – especially if you don’t know the recipient.
The researchers hope their findings will encourage people to think twice before adding emoji to professional emails.
Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev looked at the effect of using emoji in work-related emails.
Dr Ella Glikson, one of the authors of the study, said: ‘Our findings provide first-time evidence that, contrary to actual smiles, smileys do not increase perceptions of warmth and actually decrease perceptions of competence.’
‘Pregnant man’ included in emoji list 14.0
Two emoji – ‘pregnant man’ and a gender neutral ‘pregnant person’ – are among those included in the 14.0 list of approved emoji that came to devices in 2021 and 2022.
The pregnant man and pregnant person recognise that ‘pregnancy is possible for some transgender men and non-binary people’, said Emojipedia, a voting member of the Unicode Consortium.
Men get pregnant in both real life and in fiction, Emojipedia argued, like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1994 film ‘Junior’.
‘Pregnant man’ and ‘pregnant person’ emoji could also be used as ‘a tongue-in-cheek way to display a food baby, a very full stomach caused by eating a large meal
Guidelines to use the term ‘pregnant person’ instead of ‘pregnant woman’ – as issued by the British Medical Association in 2017, in an attempt to recognise trans and non-binary people – were at the time called ‘an insult to women’.
Jane Solomon, Emojipedia’s ‘senior emoji lexicographer’, outlined the new emoji in a blog post entitled ‘Why is there a pregnant man emoji?’
‘The new pregnancy options may be used for representation by trans men, non-binary people, or women with short hair – though, of course, use of these emoji is not limited to these groups,’ she said.
‘Men can be pregnant. This applies to the real world (e.g., trans men) and to fictional universes (e.g., Arnold Schwarzenegger in [1994 film] “Junior”.
‘People of any gender can be pregnant too. Now there are emoji to represent this.’
For now, Unicode is keeping the more conventional ‘pregnant woman’ emoji, which has been an emoji since 2016.
