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by freehunter 3265 days ago
Yeah I've always thought that one was unbridled grief. Disappointed but relieved? How? How is that in any way disappointed but relieved? The face is sweating, which people do when they are nervous or anxious. The mouth is frowning, which people do when they are upset. The eyebrows are curved downwards which people do when they are sad. And in a lot of the representations, the drop of water is under the eye, signaling that the face is crying. There is not a single emotion that face is expressing that could be interpreted as positive like the word "relieved" indicates.

That face is not disappointed but relieved. That face is 100% stricken with grief. That's the emoji I send to my wife when she texts me and says she's having a bad day.

2 comments

There are many HNers who know much more about Japan than I do, but I'm pretty sure the tear on the side is meant to represent relief. Imagine it in an anime. I'm not sure why it's a frown and now a shocked face/smile, though.

Here's a short article I found on a few other misinterpreted emoji: https://www.wired.com/2015/05/using-emoji-wrong/

People don't know how to quote in mail and forum posts, and one expect them to use emoji "correctly"?
You are right. I think emoji tend to develop meaning by being repeatedly used in a context. Their names are titles or identifiers but not helpful for meaning.
Which kinda sucks, because if I don't know what a word means, I go to the dictionary. Someone using a word wrong is going to really throw me off if their usage doesn't match the dictionary definition. If I don't know what an emoji means, I'll look at the title. And it's likely something very different than the emotion trying to be portrayed.