Don't know the difference between emoji and emoticons? Let ...

To complicate matters, some emoji are also emoticons. The standard for the characters breaks them apart into sets by theme. Most are filed under ... Skiptomaincontent Skiptonavigation AdvertisementNewsOpinionSportCultureLifestyleShowMoreShowMoreNewsWorldnewsUKnewsCoronavirusClimatecrisisEnvironmentScienceGlobaldevelopmentFootballTechBusinessObituariesOpinionTheGuardianviewColumnistsCartoonsOpinionvideosLettersSportFootballCricketRugbyunionTennisCyclingF1GolfUSsportsCultureBooksMusicTV&radioArt&designFilmGamesClassicalStageLifestyleFashionFoodRecipesLove&sexHealth&fitnessHome&gardenWomenMenFamilyTravelMoneyMakeacontributionSubscribeSearchjobsHolidaysDigitalArchiveGuardianPuzzlesappGuardiancontentlicensingsiteTheGuardianappVideoPodcastsPicturesNewslettersToday'spaperInsidetheGuardianTheObserverGuardianWeeklyCrosswordsSearchjobsHolidaysDigitalArchiveGuardianPuzzlesappGuardiancontentlicensingsiteWorldUKCoronavirusClimatecrisisEnvironmentScienceGlobaldevelopmentFootballTechBusinessObituariesTechnologyDon'tknowthedifferencebetweenemojiandemoticons?LetmeexplainAlexHernsetstherecordstraightforonceandforallAselectionofemojis.Nottobeconfusedwithemoticons.Photograph:AlamyAselectionofemojis.Nottobeconfusedwithemoticons.Photograph:AlamyFri6Feb201515.33GMTLastmodifiedonTue21Feb201718.12GMTEmojiandemoticonsarenotthesamethingandthecontinuedconfusionofthetwowillnotstand.IntheNewYorkTimes,undertheheadline“AtSilkRoadTrial,LawyersFighttoIncludeEvidenceTheyCallVital:Emoji”,thetwoweretreatedasinterchangeable.“Atissue”inthecourt’sdebates“wasapieceofinformationthat[theSilkRoadfounderRossUlbricht’s]lawyersuggestedwascriticallyimportant,yetwasomittedbyfederalprosecutors:anemoji.“Andnotjustanyemoji,oremoticon,asthesymbolissometimescalled—itwasthegoldstandard.Aversionofasmileyface.”AndontheBBC,undertheheadline“Emoticonsintextscanrackuphugebills”isanewsstorywhichexclusivelydiscussesemoji.Anemoticonisatypographicdisplayofafacialrepresentation,usedtoconveyemotioninatextonlymedium.Likeso:;-)Inventedmultipletimesoverhumanhistory,itsinternet-eragenesisiswidelyconsideredtohaveoccurredinSeptember1982,whencomputerscientistScottFahlmansuggestedtotheCarnegieMellonUniversitymessageboardthat:-)and:-(couldbeusedtodistinguishjokesfromseriousstatementsonline.Shortlythereaftercamethename,aportmanteauofthephrase“emotionicon”.Incontrasttothegrassrootscreationoftheemoticon,emojiwerecreatedinthelate1990sbyNTTDoCoMo,theJapanesecommunicationsfirm.Thenameisacontractionofthewordseandmoji,whichroughlytranslatestopictograph.Unlikeemoticons,emojiareactualpictures,ofeverythingfromasetofpaintednails(💅)toaslightlywhimsicalghost(👻).Andwhereemoticonswereinventedtoportrayemotioninenvironmentswherenothingbutbasictextisavailable,emojiareactuallyextensionstothecharactersetusedbymostoperatingsystemstoday,Unicode.Inessence,emojiaretreatedbythecomputeraslettersfromanon-westernlanguage,inmuchthesamewayasJapaneseandChinesecharactersare.Butthatalsomeansthatthesoftwarehastoexplicitlysupportthem–otherwiseitisforcedtodisplayaplaceholdericon,orevenjustablankspace(whichyoumightseebetweenthebracketsintheparagraphaboveifyourbrowserdoesn’tsupportemoji).Italsomeansthateachcompanyhastoprovideitsowninterpretationsofwhattheemojidescriptionsshouldactuallylooklike–andtheydon’talwaysagree.Taketheimplementationsofthe“dancer”emoji:forTwitterandApple,it’safemaleflamencodancer.ButforGoogle,itwas,untilrecently,aJohnTravoltalookalikedancingdiscostyle.Andnowit’saweirdblobbything.Soifyou’reabouttotellsomeone“youlookgorgeous,likea💃”,makesuretheyaren’treadingitonanewAndroidphone.Asmatteringofdanceremoji.Photograph:GuardiancompositeTocomplicatematters,someemojiarealsoemoticons.Thestandardforthecharactersbreaksthemapartintosetsbytheme.Mostarefiledunder“MiscellaneousSymbolsandPictographs”,buttheemojiwhichdepictemotivefacesareseparatedoutas“emoticons”.There’smore.Althoughthename’snotmuchusedinthewest,it’sprobablybesttodistinguishkaomojifromemoticonsingeneral.Independentlyinventedaroundthesametimeasemoticons,theymakethemostofthefullercharactersetnecessarytowriteinJapanese,andcanbereadhead-on.Theymaybeassimpleas(*_*),orascomplexas(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧.orಠ_ಠ.Oh,andthenthere’sstickers,thecustompicturesusedinanumberofinstantmessagingclientssuchasFacebookMessengerorLine.Someappsrefertothemasemoji,butthey’refullyspecifictotheapp,andcan’tbecutandpasteanywhereelseexceptwhenthey’retreatedasanimage.Withthatmuchvariation,isitsurprisingthatpeoplegetalittle(╯°□°）╯︵┻━┻ifyouconfuse:-)with😃?TopicsTechnologyReusethiscontentWorldUKCoronavirusClimatecrisisEnvironmentScienceGlobaldevelopmentFootballTechBusinessObituaries