It may shock you to learn that countries around the world use emojis differently to us here in Australia. Whether it’s using ordinary ones in strange contexts or deriving wildly unintended interpretations, communicating with emojis can be a bloody minefield.
A recent survey on how folks in English-speaking countries use them has revealed some interesting facts, including each country’s favourite emoji, and their varying meanings across the world.
The image below shows the second-favourite emoji of each country because apparently we all fucking love the plain old smiley face, which clocked in at number one for each.
Turns out the US, UK, Jamaica and Trinidad really enjoy the laugh-crying face, while Canada and New Zealand want nothing but love, baby. Ireland? They’re heaps into the smiling pile of shit and South Africa are just blowing kisses fucking everywhere.
We – a nation of absolute bloody larrikins – are all about the winky tongue emoji and you know what? I reckon that sums us up pretty damn well.
According to the survey, there are some disagreements about the the interpretation of certain emojis. For example, the peach emoji in the US is more widely used to reference the fruit rather than the ass it truly represents. Americans are also using the eggplant emoji as a literal eggplant while Ireland, Jamaica and Trinidad deem it a “sexual reference”.
I think i can confidently speak on behalf of the entire country when I say the eggplant is always a dick. If you get a message with an eggplant emoji, I can almost guarantee the sender is talking about a schlong, either attached to their body or someone else’s.
The face with the straight mouth is interpreted as “unamused” by most, but Australia and the UK allegedly read it as “neutral/content”, which is incredibly incorrect. Which of you weirdos thinks that shit means content? Please reconsider your stance on this.
At least the world agrees you can’t go wrong with the classic smiley face.
