51吃瓜

Emoji are itty-bitty images wonderful for cross-cultural communication. But, as #TheDress debate in 2015 taught us, we don’t听always see the same picture in the same way. This is true of emoji, too, which can be more open to interpretation than we realize.

We’ve rounded up some emoji that often suffer from cases of mistaken identity. To be clear, there aren’t official rules for how you can use emoji. That’s part of their fun and our creativity with them. But, emoji do have official names and are typically designed with a certain image, idea, or emotion in mind.

Sometimes it’s worth it to know that the听squirrel听emoji,听馃惪锔�, you love so much isn’t technically a squirrel …

chipmunk emoji 馃惪锔�

Chipmunks and squirrels have a lot in common. Both are cuddly, furry woodland rodents with bushy tails, for one thing. So, it’s no surprise the听chipmunk emoji,听馃惪锔�, often gets mistaken for a squirrel. The emoji can be used to represent rodents, nature, hunger, cuteness, and being a little nutty or, well, squirrelly.

Some have had enough of the confusion, though, and demanded an eastern gray squirrel emoji. A Change.org petition was even started in 2017 pushing the Unicode Consortium, which governs emoji and other computer characters, to 鈥淢ake America Gray Again.鈥� As of 2018, the petition was closed, but we have no doubt squirrel lovers will try again.

Another thing chipmunks and squirrels have in common is their love of nuts, which brings us to our next mistaken emoji.

chestnut emoji 馃尠

Chipmunks and squirrels love nuts, such as the chestnut. But, poor ole听chestnut emoji 馃尠听doesn’t always get to be itself. Thanks to its dark, lined appearance, sometimes people think it’s a raisin from a distance.

Because there isn’t specifically a walnut or pecan emoji, guess who is working overtime? Yep.听馃尠. Fun fact: There is a peanuts emoji听馃��, though, bringing some nut diversity in emojidom. And oh, you better believe both these emoji get tossed around for all things nuts.

black heart suit emoji 鈾ワ笍

There are four suits in a deck of cards: the spade 鈾狅笍, diamond 鈾︼笍, club 鈾ｏ笍, and heart 鈾ワ笍. There’s also an emoji for each of them, including听black heart suit emoji听鈾ワ笍, whose name sounds like black heart 馃枻听but has an emoji that actually displays like red heart听鉂わ笍. And to make things even more confusing, it’s听official Unicode name is … heavy black heart. For the love of …

Here’s a little history: In the early days of pre-emoji Unicode, the term black听meant a character was filled in, while听white meant it was just the outline of the shape, and heavy meant it was thick or bold.

厂辞,听black heart suit emoji听鈾ワ笍 is meant to depict the heart suit in cards.听While it is used in the occasional post about card games or gambling, most people use this emoji symbolize love and affection, as it looks very similar to the听鉂� emoji on major platforms.

negative squared Latin capital letter B emoji 馃叡锔�

The Unicode Standard officially calls 馃叡锔� the negative squared Latin capital letter B emoji, but it鈥檚 commonly referred to as the B button emoji, a much more convenient name.B button emoji was approved under Unicode 6.0 in 2010. Across platforms, it appears as a white, capital letter B on a red square. It was originally intended to represent the blood type B alongside A (馃叞锔�), AB (馃啂), and O (馃吘锔�).

In East Asian countries like Japan, there is a popular belief that a person鈥檚 blood type influences their personality, character, and compatibility with others. People there took to the听B button emoji to communicate their blood type on social media, especially in dating and romantic contexts.

In the US, the B button emoji went down a completely different path. The Los Angeles-based street gang, the Bloods, have been known to change words with the letter C, the first letter of their rival gang the Crips, to B‘s (e.g., boolin’听for cooling, and Bompton听for Compton).

The B button became especially popular, and controversial, on the internet after YouTuber Swolotag trolled Hillary 鈥滒焻憋笍linton鈥� in a widely viewed video in October 2016 called 鈥淪pell Icup Ni 馃叡锔忦焻憋笍a.鈥� The video plays on stereotypes of black people and feminists, and seems deliberately designed to 鈥�trigger鈥� so-called libtards.

Japanese dolls emoji 馃帋

Some emoji can seem utterly obscure or random, but they often have important meanings in Japan, where emoji originated鈥攍ike the Japanese dolls emoji, 馃帋, which shows a male and female doll in traditional Japanese dress.

The dolls are meant to represent the Emperor and Empress of Japan, and are used for the March 3rd celebration of Hinamatsuri, or Doll’s Day or Girl’s Day.

Perhaps due to their unfamiliarity with the tradition it represents, users in the West don鈥檛 seem to have a rhyme or reason in their use of the听Japanese dolls听emoji. They sometimes include it in social media posts to illustrate anything girly. It鈥檚 also a popular feature in Twitter handles, apparently because it鈥檚 considered cute and different.

sake bottle and cup emoji 馃嵍

罢丑别听sake bottle and cup听emoji, 馃嵍, shows a carafe of sake, or Japanese rice wine, and a traditional sake cup.厂补办别听is Japan鈥檚 national beverage and an important part of Japanese culture. Traditionally,听蝉补办别听is heated slightly and served in a small earthenware or clay flask called a听tokkuri, then poured into small, typically porcelain drinking cups called听肠丑辞办辞听辞谤听ochoko. These accoutrements for drinking听sake, collectively known as听shuki, are what the听sake bottle and cup听emoji shows.

Especially by people who are Japanese, the emoji is often used for joyous or celebratory occasions that call for the alcoholic beverage,听sake. Or, perhaps just for a nice sushi outing.

Some Westerners, however, confuse the听sake bottle and cup听emoji for a jug or carton of milk. As a result,听sake bottle and cup听emoji听appears in posts about breakfast and other lactic treats. Hey y’all, you might try glass of milk听馃�浱�辞谤 ice cream听馃崹听emoji next time.

Milk for sake?听That mistake is nothing compared to 鈥�

love hotel emoji 馃彥

罢丑别听love hotel听emoji,听馃彥, depicts a tall building with a pink heart and on, some platforms, the letter听H听emblazoned听on front.

In some East Asian countries like Japan, a love hotel is a place people can rent by the hour for, you know, love activities. Among many unfamiliar with this institution, the听love hotel听emoji came to be used in reference to hospitals and vacations to health more generally.

This confusion is probably due to the big heart and H over its entrance, which Westerners associate with hospitals鈥攈ence this emoji’s alias as heart hospital.听It’s probably also due to the fact that it actually looks a bit like the actual听hospital emoji:听馃彞.

people with bunny ears emoji 馃懐

According to Emojipedia,听people with bunny ears听馃懐听is based on Japanese听bunny girls, a borrowing of the iconic US Playboy Bunnies. In Japan, the costume is popular in anime, manga, and fan art as well as, true to the original concept, adult entertainers.

When emoji hit many Western keyboards in 2010,听many people didn鈥檛 realize the emoji depicted people wearing bunny ears. Apple’s design featured short ears, so many people took the duo as ballerinas with headbands. However, Apple’s 2015 iOS 8.3 update massively increased the size of the bunny ears, making them鈥攁nd their connection to Playboy Bunnies鈥攎ore prominent.

Some people charged Apple with sexism, but, for whatever it’s worth, men with bunny ears,听馃懐鈥嶁檪锔�, were added in 2016.