It’s rare that I send a text without an emoji, it breaks the awkwardness, makes a message more personal, or simply gives a polite indication that I can’t be bothered to text back anymore (?). I was living my life thinking the heart eyes emoji was enough to portray my emotions, but I’ve been living a lie.
It turns out we’ve been cruelly denied some timeless symbols such as the naked bum, a man screaming at a spider, and Donald Trump getting chased by bees. All this without us even knowing.
Dutch emoji expert, Lilian Stolk, released the app Declined Emoji: part 1 which features 30 controversial emoji which were officially declined by The Unicode Consortium (the big guns who decide which emoji live). With Stolk’s app, you can send these emoji to your friends, but unfortunately only through iMessage.
The emoji catalog includes: a Dodo bird, a marijuana leaf, a woman rowing a boat, a polar bear on a melting ice cap, and, even an erecting condom (which could have definitely replaced the ‘?’ for safe sexting).
It’s hard to believe that these emoji didn’t make the cut in The Unicode Consortium eyes since representation is important and sometimes a blue tusked, orange mammoth is the only way to express how you’re really feeling.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
What’s even more difficult to believe is that there’s an aerial tramway emoji ?but no emoji of someone with ginger hair…
If you want to check out the rejected (yet beautiful) emoji in more detail, you can download the Declined Emoji: part 1 on the App Store. If part 1 isn’t enough for you, there’s Declined Emoji: part 2, but this time you have to pay for the privilege.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.