Search Emoji
CRYING LAUGHING FACE This is the most widely used emoji and was Oxford Dictionary’s “word of the year” in 2015. Like the thumbs-up, it’s been so overused it might be taken to mean you don’t find what was said to be funny at all.
COFFIN You can use this emoji to indicate you’re dead from laughing. There was a brief period where some TikTok users tried to get the coffin adopted into emoji language to show “dead from laughing”, but it was dead in the water pretty quickly.
DOUBLE THUMBS-UP Are you mad? Two thumbs don’t emphasise your approval and positivity or that you’re making the extra effort – they only serve to double-down on your rudeness and passive-aggressive nature. Stop being so cruel.
PEACH Bearing in mind that Gen Z rarely uses emojis according to their literal meaning, what does a peach resemble? A pair of pert buttocks, of course. Best avoided if you don’t want to be known as the office sex pest.
CRYING FACE Think this means you’re sincerely sad? Wrong! Sad emojis are now often used to poke fun at what you might call a “first world problem” – in other words, something you consider to be an issue but really isn’t that serious – so it’s worthy of sarcasm.
CLAPPING HANDS Have you ever parked a car badly only for a bystander to give you a, slow-hand clap? That’s the message you could be conveying with the hand-clap emoji. If your grandson texts to say he got a grade C, he could interpret your hand-clap reply as “What a dimwit!”.
SKULL Zoomers are more likely to use this in response to a funny text. It means, “I’m dead”, or “I’ve died of laughing”. It largely comes from TikTok, and it’s common to show three skull emojis to indicate how dead from laughing you really are.
ZANY FACE Many older users would send this emoji to signify a goofy or frazzled feeling. But to Gen Z it’s the ultimate cringe since it’s been adopted so wildly by oldies. Don’t send it to the kids. It’s not worth it.
BASEBALL CAP If a young person sends you this emoji, it means they think you’re lying – but if they type the word “No” before the cap emoji, it means they believe you. It’s a play on Gen Z slang “capping” (lying) that emerged from rap culture.
PREGNANT WOMAN If you find someone attractive, you’d use a pregnant woman emoji. Meaning you, as a man messaging a woman, want to get them pregnant; or, for a woman messaging a man, become pregnant by them. And you thought Boomers were the non-PC generation!
GOAT This is no mere farmyard animal. You’d only send this to someone you considered to be an exceptional person: the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT). If you sent it to someone you thought was a silly old goat, then you’ve inadvertently told them they’re a genius.
WHITE TICK IN GREEN BOX Nothing says “over the hill” like posting this (to represent a task completed or verification of something). Even millennials turn their noses up at this one, since it’s considered naff and a bit patronising.
RED HEART Beware, this red heart may land you in hot water if used incorrectly. To Gen Z, this symbol suggests you have romantic intentions. So if that’s not what’s on your mind, use a heart of another colour. Blue and green ones are for nonromantic use.
AVOCADO Sending the avo emoji can be insulting. It signals that someone is “basic” – unpredictable and unimaginative. It comes from when people used to say that millennials couldn’t get on the property ladder because they spent all their money on avocado toast.
‘BUILD A RAPPORT AND MAKE SURE YOU’RE ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH BEFORE HITTING EMOJIS’