Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Poll:Who wants more/better emojis?
- Thread starter DearthnVader
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
One doesn't have much to do with the other.
We communicate with both spoken language and body language. Text covers communication for the most part, but it misses tone, inflections, body language (and I assume some other things) which may indicate humor, sarcasm, anger, and more.
I feel that emoji is useful for covering body language, like smiling, frowning, thumb's up, in a way that text cannot. Emoji can also support text to make intent more clear. Everyone I know uses emoji in this way, but that may reflect my older age bracket. Everyone acts as if emoji is complete and utter nonsense used by kids, but I've never actually seen that in person.
In any case, I think there are valid use cases for emoji to assist in communication, rather than reduce it. However, the emoji needed to do this was pretty much already covered in the earlier catalogs. Today the catalog of emoji is full of a lot of junk that seems to be there because it's cute. There is now so much of it that it is difficult to find the useful icons.
I feel that emoji is useful for covering body language, like smiling, frowning, thumb's up, in a way that text cannot. Emoji can also support text to make intent more clear. Everyone I know uses emoji in this way, but that may reflect my older age bracket. Everyone acts as if emoji is complete and utter nonsense used by kids, but I've never actually seen that in person.
In any case, I think there are valid use cases for emoji to assist in communication, rather than reduce it. However, the emoji needed to do this was pretty much already covered in the earlier catalogs. Today the catalog of emoji is full of a lot of junk that seems to be there because it's cute. There is now so much of it that it is difficult to find the useful icons.
If I counted correctly, there are 13 emojis, one of which is the 
Apple sign. There are more emojis in other forums. Emoji that are "interactive" may also be funny. But I think it is quite difficult to insert new emojis in such a forum system 
Apple sign. There are more emojis in other forums. Emoji that are "interactive" may also be funny. But I think it is quite difficult to insert new emojis in such a forum system 
Why do we need numbers when most of us don't have even one pot to... [well, wrong thread for finishing that thought I guess]
As far as Mayan glyphs go, the only one that really counts for me is the one for chocolate. Yeah I know, it looks like a fish coming home from a barfight. It does have a two-dot base glyph which here means to repeat the main glyph, Ka, followed by the u glyph (the oval and hook by the fish's tail). So we arrive a ka-ka-u or today's cacao... chocolate!! What more could one need to survive (or decorate) a session in the celebrated forums at MacRumors?
I do like the idea of Mayan glyphs in general as emojis though. Some of them would remind me of the gargoyles I loved to look at on the cornices of the big pre-war apartment buildings in NYC. So cool that "modern" architecture of that era included such backwards-facing hat tips to superstition as those apotropaic grotesqeries on the cornices, and labeling the 13th floor in the elevators as 14.
It's time to bring back good old fashioned fear of offending the gods before it's too late. Some nice Mayan face glyphs at MacRumors could only be a step in the right direction.
I upvoted that for the Mayan glyph, because ka-ka-u is a vegetable on the food pyramid, and for making me look up "apotropaic".Why do we need numbers when most of us don't have even one pot to... [well, wrong thread for finishing that thought I guess]
As far as Mayan glyphs go, the only one that really counts for me is the one for chocolate. Yeah I know, it looks like a fish coming home from a barfight. It does have a two-dot base glyph which here means to repeat the main glyph, Ka, followed by the u glyph (the oval and hook by the fish's tail). So we arrive a ka-ka-u or today's cacao... chocolate!! What more could one need to survive (or decorate) a session in the celebrated forums at MacRumors?
I do like the idea of Mayan glyphs in general as emojis though. Some of them would remind me of the gargoyles I loved to look at on the cornices of the big pre-war apartment buildings in NYC. So cool that "modern" architecture of that era included such backwards-facing hat tips to superstition as those apotropaic grotesqeries on the cornices, and labeling the 13th floor in the elevators as 14.
It's time to bring back good old fashioned fear of offending the gods before it's too late. Some nice Mayan face glyphs at MacRumors could only be a step in the right direction.
Well, you can get Pez dispensers that are emojis, so to avoid an infinite recursion that collapses the Universe into a singularity, it's probably safer for everyone if we avoid doing that.
I only knew what "apotropaic" meant because I once worked for a boss who used to juggle apples or oranges while chatting up people I sent in there after figuring they had enough moxie to withstand his idea of a job interview. He used to say that his juggling was an apotropaic practice, and that if he didn't drop a piece of fruit while the applicant was trying to elaborate on his or her skill sets, then probably hiring that person wouldn't ruin the company.
I really like those.
Why do we need numbers when most of us don't have even one pot to... [well, wrong thread for finishing that thought I guess]
As far as Mayan glyphs go, the only one that really counts for me is the one for chocolate. Yeah I know, it looks like a fish coming home from a barfight. It does have a two-dot base glyph which here means to repeat the main glyph, Ka, followed by the u glyph (the oval and hook by the fish's tail). So we arrive a ka-ka-u or today's cacao... chocolate!! What more could one need to survive (or decorate) a session in the celebrated forums at MacRumors?
I do like the idea of Mayan glyphs in general as emojis though. Some of them would remind me of the gargoyles I loved to look at on the cornices of the big pre-war apartment buildings in NYC. So cool that "modern" architecture of that era included such backwards-facing hat tips to superstition as those apotropaic grotesqeries on the cornices, and labeling the 13th floor in the elevators as 14.
It's time to bring back good old fashioned fear of offending the gods before it's too late. Some nice Mayan face glyphs at MacRumors could only be a step in the right direction.
Terrific and thoroughly enjoyable (not to mention, an exceedingly interesting and most educational), post.
In fact, as a consequence, I have learned something new today, always a most welcome experience.
I have misplaced the link where I learned about that glyph, but if I find it I'll edit that post and put in the credit. I'm sure the occasion was one of those inadvertent but pleasing discoveries made while in search of something else altogether.
Yeah once in awhile I get an email from someone who tacks on an entire string of god knows what they mean emojis. It's not just my aging eyes that say ok later for that, it's just... daft. Reminds me of a kid in my kindergarten who got ahold of the teacher's box of glittery star stickers she used to put on our "report card" for our parents if we remembered to put our toys away etc. He gave himself about a dozen stars for being a complete a55hat that day.
Now there's one I might like... what was it before it was a green squirt gun?!
I don't really get why people use all the newer emojis a lot inline the sentences of their texts or mails. It slows me down if they are meant as substitutes for words rather than emotional context. I see a picture of something and can't figure out what it is... and if the context of the whole sentence hangs on my understanding that noun,,, or adjective, I'm likely to bail on bothering to read the rest of the missive, no matter what it says.