Emoji: where did it all begin?

Published Mar 25, 2015

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London – Emoji were originally popular in Japan, and widely used online.

However, in recent years they have become hugely popular elsewhere.

Originally meaning pictograph, the word emoji literally means “picture” (e) and “letter” (moji).

Icons are standardised and include some specific to Japanese culture, such as a bowing (apologising) businessman, a face wearing a face mask, a white flower used to denote “brilliant homework” or a group of emoji representing popular foods: ramen noodles, dango, onigiri, Japanese curry, and sushi.

Some emoji character sets have been incorporated into Unicode, allowing them to be used elsewhere including on websites and apps such as Facebook and Twitter.

The keyboard is the latest in a long line of apps and services related to emoji.

Last year a pair of London-based developers created the Emoji app that only lets users communicate using the popular miniature images.

Even usernames have to be comprised of a selection of emoticons.

And with the release of iOS 8, Apple allowed app developers to create emoji-based keyboards for iPhones, iPads and iPhones.

Daily Mail

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