Emoji that quietly change meaning

An emoji is there at first to say what plain text says badly: that the sentence is light, that you are joking, that you are not annoyed. Except none of these little drawings ships with a manual. The same symbol can mean enthusiasm in one conversation and polite weariness in another, with nobody having announced the switch.

Nobody decides, and everybody decides

The meaning of an emoji doesn't come from its official description but from the way a group uses it. A few people only have to use it tongue-in-cheek, others pick the joke up, and the ironic use ends up covering the original one. The drawing itself has not moved by a pixel: it is the convention around it that has been quietly rewritten, through sheer repetition.

The thumbs up, a textbook case

The finest example is the most ordinary sign of approval there is. For plenty of people it means exactly what it shows: fine, noted, thanks. For plenty of others it has become the reply you send when you have nothing left to add, so, depending on the mood of whoever receives it, a slightly curt way of closing the discussion. Both readings coexist, and nothing in the message tells you which one applies.

Translate, rather than correct

There is no correct usage to impose, and taking offence at an emoji often amounts to blaming someone for speaking a neighbouring dialect. The useful reflex is simpler: when a message stings for no reason, assume a vocabulary gap before you assume an intention. And when the subject really matters, write the full sentence, because an ambiguous drawing will never be worth an intention stated plainly.