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Understanding Emoji: Smiley Face Semiotics
Last Monday was World Emoji Day, meaning this probably isn’t the only place you’ve seen a blatant overuse of the loveable/hateable little icons. And while emojis are cute/annoying and worth celebrating/desecrating, they could have major implications in the psychology behind semiotics. Cue the rundown:
+ Emoji / ēˈmōjē - a small digital image or icon used to express an idea, emotion, etc., in electronic communication.
+ Different than emoticon, which is “a representation of a human facial expression using only keyboard characters”, emoji are small digital images.
+ World Emoji Day is on July 17, the day that happens to be displayed by the iOS calendar emoji.
+ Apple released 12 new emojis on World Emoji Day, notably a "woman with headscarf" emoji, which marked the work of 16-year-old Rayouf Alhumedhi. “Alhumedhi’s emoji campaign started last year when she realized she was the only one among her friends without an emoji that accurately resembled who she was.”
+ Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2015 was the ‘Face with Tears of Joy’ emoji. That’s right, the word of the year was emoji, and if that isn’t a sign of change, I don’t know what is.
You see, our brains are split laterally, right and left. You’re probably familiar with the idea that the right brain is visual, emotional, intuitive and creative while the left is sequential, logical, factual and arithmetic. That left brain is responsible for our modern communication--language, writing and the like--resulting in a more one-sided approach to society [literally].
+ “Are we changing? Oh, are we ever,” says Italian semiotician Marcel Danesi, who argues that the right brain is trying to reintegrate itself into a left-brain dominant society. The result? The emoji alphabet, which allows us to “sense as well as think.”
+ “In Defense of Emojis”, from Ted: “before you discount me as another text-crazed millennial, unable to suffer through the slings and arrows of Shakespeare, I want to show you why I believe there are some surprising real-world benefits of emojis." For one, emoji helps add context and subtext to communication, where subtleties sarcasm and irony get lost in translation. [Also, the existence of EmojiDick (as in the whale, Moby Dick, not the ‘eggplant emoji’--we're a safe-for-work publication) is dually sad and hilarious.]
Hooked on a Feeling
Fly Fishing has traditionally been a masculine sport, but thanks to the efforts of groups like Braided, Durango’s female fly fishing community, more women are getting involved in the sport. And with more women involved, more will feel comfortable getting into the sport, more brands start paying attention with gear development and the sport becomes more of a shared experience between genders. From our own archive, “Braided: Weaving Women Together”.
+ The article reminded me a lot of another women’s movement, born from the mind of a Durangoan, that we covered last November: the Wild Women’s Project. This Thursday, those gals are hosting a “When Women Lead” panel. They also host some epic women-only hut trips throughout the year, so check ‘em out.
+ While we’re on the topic of women in sports, the Olympic Channel has a series called “Sports Swap” where two athletes from different sports try to teach one another their respective sports. In this episode, 2015 Olympian Naomi Seney and 2016 Gold Medalist Elis Ligtlee swap between sprinting a cycling, which is less of a natural switch than one might think.
Stumbling into the Past
Last year, a 9-year-old boy made the discovery that most of us only dreamed of as kids when he stumbled on an ancient stegomastodon fossil in New Mexico. While playing in the desert with his brothers, Jude Sparks tripped and landed face-down on the ground. When we started to get back up, “He found himself face to face with something that, he said, looked like ‘fossilized wood.’”
+ From the Nat Geo article: "Hunter said it was just a big fat rotten cow. I didn't know what it was. I just knew it wasn't usual." If you have siblings, you’ll understand my affinity for this quote.
+ Stegomastodons are among the rarer elephantine fossils, with only a couple hundred found globally.
+ Back in 2011, some Canadian miners discovered one of the most well-preserved dinosaur fossils to date. It was unveiled in all its scaly glory earlier this year. The 3D interactive model of it is awe-inspiring, to say the least.
This week's good news, brought to you by:
For as long as they’ve been alive, you’ve spent countless hours caring for them--making sure they have ample nutrition, fresh air and a warm bed to help them grow big and strong. It’s time they start giving back after all your hard work.
Prepare to Ace Your Harvest
That’s right, we’re talking about your garden veggies, homestead hopefuls, and those bounties to come. There’s nothing quite like reaping the fruits (and vegetables) of your labor. Sauté those peppers, dice those tomatoes, steam those beans and, if you’re wanting to up your French cuisine, start canning with some help from Kroegers Ace.
Wait, canning is French? You bet it is! Those kings/queens of cuisine invented canning, so you best bet it’s good.
Whether you need a full set up, or just some new jars to get going, Kroegers Ace keeps up with a menagerie of mason jars and every canning tool or trinket you can imagine. Canning jars are on sale right now and, on July 26, they’re releasing their Canning Corner catalog, full of advice, recipes and coupons for everything you could possibly need. Pick it up in-store this Wednesday.
Want to make the most of your garden bounty? CAN do!
