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To understand emoji today, Houston suggests working backward. “They’re characters like any other. Each has a code point, just like A or S or 😊.” #ThatWordChat

Emoji are standardized by the Unicode Consortium, a group of engineers and tech companies who meet to decide which emoji get added. #ThatWordChat

Japan already had emoji, but every mobile carrier had its own version. To fix this fragmentation, Google pushed for standardization. Emoji entered Unicode. The modern emoji was born out of engineering need and cultural habits. #ThatWordChat

But the West wasn’t emoji-free. “We had dingbat fonts… which were basically emoji,” says Houston. Earlier still, printers' pi fonts, filled with typographic ornaments. #ThatWordChat

“The world at large has had a concept of things that live in amongst our text.” Emoji just happen to be the latest and the most visible. But emoji aren’t just decoration. “They convey meaning, like the face with tears of joy. It’s communicating an idea.” - Houston #ThatWordChat

Emoji’s roots go deeper. “In the medieval period, we drew things in the margins to help us read: hands, octopuses, symbols.” A 1930 children’s book contains two emoji-like faces printed at the end. “One was crying. One was smiling. And they were used just like emoji.” - Houston

Can emoji show grammar? Some studies suggest yes. Word order patterns emerge by language group, even when using emoji. Mandarin speakers, for instance, have flipped their usual syntax when emoji enter the mix. #ThatWordChat

Still, emoji aren’t a language. “The meaning… isn’t even surrounded by enough convention to say that it’s a language.” But they’re more than pictures. And they’re not just punctuation either. #ThatWordChat

One of Houston’s favorite uses is the “air quotes” emoji trick:✌ sarcasm ✌ “It’s so clever… a way of really ramming it home.” - Houston #ThatWordChat

Houston recalls “the SARC Mark,” but it never caught on. Maybe we didn’t need it. “If you have to use a [sarcasm] mark, then you’re giving the game away. And half the fun is gone.” - Houston #ThatWordChat

Emoji like🙃 are filling the emotional gaps punctuation never could. 🙃 = awkward sadness, sarcasm, irony, disorientation “It’s like flying the flag upside down… It beams into our brain directly in a way that words don’t.” #ThatWordChat

Houston counted 17 different meanings for 🙃. “All boil down to: what I want to convey is opposite to what I just wrote.” Emoji meanings aren’t fixed. They evolve, often wildly. Take 🍆 and 🍑. Originally a vegetable and a fruit. Now... cultural symbols. #ThatWordChat

Emoji may seem like a tech-age novelty, but they’re built on legacy systems. The original emoji set had 722 characters. About 120 were already in Unicode, imported from legacy symbol fonts. #ThatWordChat

Unlike written scripts, emoji can be expanded at will. “They don’t add new letters to English. But emoji? Open season.” After a high-profile op-ed on the lack of a taco emoji, 🌮 joined the set. #ThatWordChat

Most-used emoji in the world? 😂 Face with tears of joy ❤️ Red heart They swap spots depending on the country. #ThatWordChat

Houston's favorite emoji: 🐳 “I like whales. I like Moby Dick. I did try to read Emoji Dick… but it’s unreadable.” #ThatWordChat

What’s the future of emoji? “Unicode has tried more than once to stop caring about emoji. It hasn’t worked.” Ideas have floated: custom emoji exchanges, device-generated symbols, app-specific images. #ThatWordChat

Thank you to Keith Houston for joining us and diving deep into the weird, wonderful, and often accidental world of emoji. "Face with Tears of Joy" is available in the US now: shadycharacters.co.uk/books/face-wit… #ThatWordChat

#ThatWordChat episode featuring John Kelly premieres on YouTube today at 4:30 PM ET. Catch up on slang, etymology, and more. Tune in and watch with us: bit.ly/ThatWordVideo #Linguistics #Editing #Etymology

Martha Barnette is back on #ThatWordChat for a book party! Her new memoir, "Friends with Words," blends etymology, radio tales, and stories from her Appalachian roots. Join us Aug. 5 at 4:30 p.m. EDT. Register here: ThatWordChat.com #Linguistics #BookLaunch