Proper Emoji Use?

I’m sure you have that aggressive emoji parent or relative who will string emoji’s together to be hip. Instead of “I’m heading to the store” it’s

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Are you drinking and driving to pick up some food and did I catch a wrench in there?

There is a place in this world for Emoji’s but they should be used tactfully. I find laughing or crying gets the point across with an Emoji. ?? These are nice substitutes for LOL, HAHAHA, or too bad. Simple, yet effective.

Where the Emoji goes wrong is when it becomes a distraction. I don’t need a gorilla Emoji.? When Jeff was hanging ten on waves in Avalon it would have struck me as odd if he told me he was “?“. I can’t think of many times when I need to reference a speed boat. ?

A Few Favorites

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Big fan of ideas, stocks, gambling picks, or space travel going to the moon. The rocket ship stands for Blasting Off which is far superior to “looks good.”

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Thumbs up replaces “ok” which I use a lot. When someone sends me a text and I want to send a confirmation, “ok” is rather glib. Thumbs up has a much softer tone behind it while making it clear what the expectation is.

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Fire means hot and hot means cool. What can’t be fire nowadays? Songs can be fire. Parties can be lit. Food can literally be on fire. Many uses.

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The puke man is a clear indicator that you don’t like something. I tend to use that over nauseated face more often. Very clear indicator of a feeling.

The Reaction Gif

I don’t have a ton of friends who utilize the gif. I try to more often than I probably should but a good gif response goes WAY further than an emoji. It’s tricky though because it can’t be forced which is what I tend to do because once you’re in the gif choosing screen, there is no leaving without picking. The key behind it is making sure the person on the other end is feeling the personalized tone of the gif. For instance, I know the Weens and Steve McGrath have seen Power and that’s a show with a ton of great gifs, that many people haven’t see, and the people who get it…get it. It’s like an instant inner friendship bond. Same with LetterKenny gifs. JKash will always appreciate a Dumb and Dumber gif. I nailed an awesome one when Badgerow asked me how I was getting through quarantine. I responded with a Spaceballs gif that I’m fairly certain only he would find hilarious.

The sorry sir wasn’t exactly applicable, but the point was made. The point of this post is that our language is moving towards images and video. There is no point trying to halt its progress, just accept it. Perfecting it’s use, that’s another story. What are some of your favorite emojis or gifs?