Say hello ji with emoji

Like it or not, we see them everywhere. They invariably seem to convey our emotions effectively and help avoid an awkward conversation. The word ‘emoji’, which was added to the Oxford Dictionaries recently, has left us wondering if this is a step forward in the evolution of language or not. Yet, an emoji smiles back at you so you don’t feel it’s a rude inclusion

If there is one thing that years of evolution and Indian culture has taught us, it is how to respect the learned and the elders. Right from bowing down with folded hands in a ‘Namaste’ to adding the suffix ‘ji’, Indian culture has taught us all. And in a recent development, a much respected ‘ji’ made it to the Oxford Dictionaries and was accepted as a word.

No, it isn’t Modi ji that we are talking about. The word was ‘emoji’. That’s right. Those little yellow, blue and red symbols indicating your mood have made it to the Oxford Dictionaries, and we couldn’t be happier because the next time we type in ‘emoji’, auto-correct will not change it.

However, the inclusion of the word in the Oxford Dictionaries only means one thing; English language is now accepting these emojis. And by doing so, there is a chance that we might end up replacing words for emojis themselves. While many might call it wrong to leave behind English words and exchange them for funny looking icons, others are calling it just the evolution of language. This isn’t the first time something of this sort happened to English.

The last time we saw a significant change in the language, cell phones had taken the market by a storm and ‘texting’ had become an acceptable word. The trend of cutting short words by removing the vowels and developing words like ‘brb’, ‘lol’ and ‘ttyl’ were the in thing back then. But unlike the entire texting fiasco, there is a definite beginning and a history of emojis. And here’s a fun fact, they existed from the time people were paging and had no idea you can walk around with a phone in your pocket.

To start off, what is an emoji? It is an ideogram or smiley used in electronic messages and Web pages. The characters are used to easily express a certain emotion and they exist in various genres, including facial expressions, common objects, places, types of weather and animals.

It all started in the late 1990s, with the Japanese national Shigetaka Kurita, when he was working on a project to give internet service on cell phones in Japan. The major problem faced by his team was to fit in as much information as possible on the then mobile phone LCD screens, which could only fit in 48 letters.

It was then that it struck him that he could replace words with images – which was the common practice with Japanese TV networks back then. And lo, the emoji was born!

Cell phones these days no longer use LCD screens. In fact, cell phones these days aren’t even called cell phones anymore. And they sure do fit in more than 48 letters. But the emoji trend has continued and people find it difficult to text/chat without them.

“It has been six years since I got my first cell phone and it is funny how these emoticons (as they are popularly known) have become a crucial part of texting without my knowledge. At first, I used it just because it was cool to do that on those little Nokia phones. But now, I feel like I’m being rude if I do not use these emoticons,” says Anakha Ashok, a communication student from Hyderabad.

But it isn’t just Anakha who feels that texting without emojis feels rude. “Most of the people from our generation spend their time chatting either on Facebook or WhatsApp. And the worst part is, we write in these languages and are so used to conveying many things through these emoticons.

In fact, on one particular instance, I ended up writing ‘:p’ in my exam without me even realising it. So I guess it has become an important part of our daily language,” adds Satvik Jain, a self-employed Chartered Accountant.

There are early signs of the emoticons taking over our day-to-day conversations, too. There are many messages on WhatsApp that just use these emoji to convey the name of a particular movie/song/phrase and this has become a popular game with users of the application. In fact, people not only use these emoticons for fun, they also tend to take them seriously.

The popular cross-platform messaging service – WhatsApp – has added emoticons for almost everything under the roof. The list of emoticons initially had a few national flags in them and India wasn’t one of them. Following this, there was a huge campaign on social media and after much was said about it, official representations were sent to the authorities. Following this, WhatsApp added the Indian flag in its very next update and as things stand when this article is published; the emoticons come in various skin tones too!

Surprisingly though, the hype surrounding the inclusion of the word emoji in the Oxford Dictionaries isn’t bothering the guardians of English language. The language experts seem to have taken a valuable lesson from the past about change, and are ready to embrace an English language that has these funny looking images in them.

“I think that communication is becoming concise and expressive by the day on account of technology. It is the evolution of communication - whether one likes it or not,” says Syed Ahmed, an authority on the evolution of English. He goes on to compare the phenomena to the rise of social media and how it was initially taken apart by critics.

“Media houses and other senior experts of communication trashed Facebook when it initially became a force. But look at how the times have changed. Facebook has now become a communication tool. In fact, the journalists who were once opposed to the idea of social media now depend on its outreach for their stories,” he argues adding, “Similar is the case with emoji. It is also a case of cultural advancement. Using something and not knowing what it's called is pointless,” he states.

To substantiate his argument of this being a step forward in the evolution of language, let’s take the example of Finland, which has come up with a tongue-in-cheek emoticon to represent their country. Finland recently rolled out images of a couple in a sauna, an old Nokia phone and a heavy metal music fan as part of a set of national emojis or symbols, to be used in digital communication. The national symbols (emojis) are a first and the government plans to publish 30 more next month. These emojis represent what Finland is all about, dark music, sauna and the homeland of the famous Nokia.

While language experts and laymen argue about the possible outcome of the inclusion of the word emoji and the power it is being given to alter the use of language, one thing is for certain. The emoji will soon be a reality in regular language and social media platforms are just making that inevitable. If the past is any indication, fighting it would just end up putting you on the wrong side of things. So don’t stress it and :) and be a part of it instead of being :( and missing out on all the fun.

By:Bhavneet Singh