HERE’S plenty of things that show your age – music taste, clothes and joint suppleness.
But it seems emojis also reveal which generation you belong to.
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A new survey found that people over 30 were far more likely to add a tick or a love heart to a social media message than youngsters.
They also use the poo sign, crying face and clapping hands literally. The etiquette for sending out the icons is increasingly confusing, with Generation Z – those born from the mid-1990s onwards – even sometimes taking offence at the classic OK hand or thumbs up.
Here, Emil Rollings, 15, offers his guide to the emoji minefield.
UNCOOL EMOJIS
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Poo sign: No one I know has ever used this one because it looks really childish.
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Lipstick kiss: I have never sent it within my social circle and we’d view it as overly-romantic.
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Monkey eye-cover: My friends and I don’t put this symbol in messages. I don’t even know what it means.
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Love heart: A romantic sign that would only be used in a jokey way and certainly isn’t put at the end of general conversations.
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Tick: I don’t see why I should be offended by this sign of approval, but it’s definitely not anything my friends use.
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COOL EMOJIS
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Blue baseball cap: This usually means that someone is lying as it was first used in response to Donald Trump claiming he’d won the 2016 US presidential election. Frequently employed.
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Clown: It is a popular way to say that someone has done something dumb, but I don’t use it that much.
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Crying with laughter: This is a swift way to tell your friends that what they have posted is funny, and is often used.
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Skull: If you want to show that a joke has you doubled up, the skull is often the preferred option.
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Frozen face: A popular symbol for saying that you think something is cool.
EMOJIS TO BE WARY OF
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Hands clapping: The meaning can be passive-aggressive because it is increasingly used in an ironic manner. As always, Context is everything.
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Thumbs up: Lots of friends still use the thumbs up because it is a quick way to indicate you are okay with a plan, but some people take offence at it.
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Gritted teeth: Young people do send this to say, ‘Why has someone done that?’, but it could be seen as an insult.
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Drooling: Okay if you are discussing a burger you’re about to eat, but it would be odd if used in relation to a person.
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OK hand: The survey might say that this emoji is out of fashion, but it does appear in our message groups, although it can be used sarcastically.
EMOJIS TO AVOID
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Hot face: Be careful if you are thinking of using it to say the weather is sweltering because young people will take it to mean the person or thing is “hot”.
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Water droplets: You shouldn’t use this emoji to indicate rain or water because it has sexual connotations.
