Indians interpret emojis differently, this survey reveals all

Jul 14, 2022

By: debolina.chakroborty@timesinternet.in

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Why do we, well, emoji?

In the 21st century, with the evolution of the Internet, people around the globe have had the opportunity to interact efficiently and in more innovative ways. Creative, spontaneous, and time-saving emojis have revolutionised text communication.

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Slack & Duolingo survey on emojis

But what do emojis mean? After all, there is no dictionary for it. Not yet anyway. Slack and Duolingo paired up to survey 9,400 hybrid workers in North America, Europe, and Asia to see how they perceive them.

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Insights

Unlike emotive emojis like happiness, grief, or an adorable face, fruits, money, and vegetable emojis are perceived differently across the board. On ‘World Emoji Day', let’s take a look at what the emoji survey found about how Indians perceived them.

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Misinterpreted

31 percent of Gen Z and 24 percent of millennials stated that their usage of an emoji was more likely to be misinterpreted by the recipient, both globally and in India.

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Cash with wings

The interpretation of the money emoji is interesting too. While 41 percent interpret it as an influx of money, 40 percent use it to signal “a hope for money’’. About 14 percent of users use it to depict a loss of money.

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The thin line between flirty and funny

While many people interpret the winky face as flirtatious, the survey says otherwise. 44 percent use it to show, “I’m kidding” while 26 percent use it with reference to an inside joke.

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India’s take on emojis

While other regions do not seem to bother as much about their texting style, India stands out. As a socially conscious country, Indian respondents were not only aware of emojis having different variations across different platforms, but they also took that into consideration when firing a text message to other people.

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What’s so funny?

The skull emoji seems to have contradicting interpretations. While for 46 percent of users the emoji represents death, 35 percent of users use it to express a laugh so hilarious that they find themselves “dead”.

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A part and parcel

With emojis being welcomed at both the workplace and home, it has seeped through a user's basic communication forms, making it difficult to comprehend a world without them.

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Emojis: Emotions or entertainment?

The use of emojis has seen hyper-growth among people universally. They have gone beyond their basic functionality of just expression and have moved to demonstrate moods, issues, symbols, beliefs, identities, and eminent aspects that make us social beings. It adds the extra zing to social communication.

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