Digital communication blossoms in unpredictable ways. This is especially true for emojis. You should be aware of these ambiguities.
Measured by how recent widespread digital communication is, emojis have a relatively long history. In the 19th century at the latest, newspapers began to play with typography, which also resulted in faces. Many years later, emojis are normal for most people – so normal that World Emoji Day is celebrated on July 17th every year.
For many people, dealing with the symbols remains so playful that new meanings emerge, and many are particularly creative when it comes to sexuality. In order not to make a mistake when using certain emojis, ambiguities should at least be known. What alternative meanings some emojis have.
Ambiguous fruits and vegetables
It cannot be ruled out that some people will also use the famous aubergine, banana or carrot emojis, for example to send their roommate a shopping list. But most young people know: In the right context, this means nothing less than the male genitals. The same applies to the bone emoji, by the way.
Like the bone, the rhino owes its ambiguity to English. The horn on the animal’s face can be described as “horny”, i.e. to be excited. On the other hand, you have to think less far around the corner when it comes to the monkey that covers its eyes. While using this emoji communicates that someone is embarrassed, because the monkey is smiling at the same time, there is no negative emotion associated with it.
Fruit and vegetables also serve to visualize love, sex and tenderness in other ways. Peaches symbolize the buttocks and cherries either the female breast or even her intimate area. The youth magazine “Bravo” also advises its readers to use a strawberry if they want to communicate their desire for sex. With a chili pepper you can also tell your counterpart that you find him or her attractive. Caution, sharp!
Not just a puff
If, on the other hand, chili peppers that are actually eaten cause flatulence, this fact can be expressed with a small cloud. In contrast to the many ambiguous emojis with sexual connotations, users of WhatsApp, Signal and Co. can simply search for the keyword “fart” (German: fart) in most messengers and are offered the little cloud as an option.
If you want to find your way around the confusion of meanings of emojis, you can find your way around Emojipedia, which has documented all emojis since 2013. Although the reference work is primarily based on the originally intended meanings of the symbols, it also lists the ambiguities of the emojis that are common today, for example in the case of the aubergine.
