In our modern world, emotions are everywhere. Even on those days that seem as ordinary, bland, and just meh, emotions find a way to sneak into our e-lives. They come at us in all shapes and forms – through emojis, emoticons, gifs, and so much more. 🌟💬

But you know what? There’s something pretty special about these little digital icons. They’re not just random symbols on a screen. Let us look at them some more.

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Emoticons and Emojis

First Came Emoticons

Emoticon is short for emotion icon, and was the OG emoji, with a twist! Emoticons are simple combinations of characters, such as punctuation marks and letters, arranged in a way that forms a facial expression or emotion. For example, 🙂 represents a smiling face, while 🙁 represents a sad face.

One of the first examples (though not all experts now are sure of the intended use of the combination of punctuation symbols) is from poet Robert Herrick in 1648, when he wrote, “Tumble me down, and I will sit Upon my ruins, (smiling yet:).“

People were also using Morse code back in the 1800s to express emotions before emojis were even a thing! And of course, there is the classic “x” and “o” for hugs and kisses? Maybe that’s where it all began!

Then along came Scott Fahlman, the computer scientist who introduced the world to the first smiley face emoticons in the 1980s. 😃 From there, it was like a domino effect – more and more emoticons started popping up everywhere! 😜😢

But as technology evolved, so did emoticons!

Then Came Emojis

Fast forward to today, and we’ve got emojis – the cool, colorful cousins of emoticons! 🌟🌈 They’re based on key commands and drawn icons, and they come in all shapes and sizes. From cute animal faces to delicious food icons (yes, even the famous smiling pile of poo 💩), emojis have taken the digital world by storm!

The word emoji comes from Japanese e (絵, ‘picture’) + moji (文字, ‘character’). According to the wikipedia article, the connection between the word emoji and the word emoticon is purely coincidental.

Emojis are like the superheroes of our digital conversations. We can use those cute little icons to convey emotions, ideas, and even entire stories with just a single tap! 🦸‍♂️💥 They are so popular that in 2015,Oxford Dictionaries named 😂 (face with tears of joy)  its Word of the Year!

So next time you’re texting or chatting online, don’t forget to sprinkle in some emojis or throwback emoticons to mix things up! 🌟✨

(source: various including techopedia, wikipedia, emoticon-wiki)

The E Books

Emma Dilemma

Everywhere Blue

The Everyday Poem and etcs (for this day)

Eccentric Extraneous Exceptions…

NaPoWriMo’s day five prompt was to take a look at Alicia Ostriker’s poem, “The Blessing of the Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog.” And then write about how a pair or trio very different things would perceive of a blessing or, alternatively, how these very different things would think of something else (luck, grief, happiness, etc).

What They Heard
That joke they heard the other day
While eavesdropping on the subway
It was clever, with heart, also a bit sly
Each of them heard it, but with a different eye..

The kids (grownups now) ROTFLed so very hard
Their laughter echoed wide and far.
She cautioned them gently, “Pause, take a breath,
Else suffocation might steal this moment of mirth.”

The dad, having heard it with one eye
(You know what I mean)
Gazed at his offspring, wondering why
And how as well this could be unseen!
(Was a altogether different matter
That the joke cracked him up an hour after!)

As for her, tears welled up instantly
Don’t ask me, I know not the reason
Maybe it brought up a memory
Or unlocked some long forgotten emotion.

That joke they heard the other day
Well, it took each of them in a different way
But what it did happen right then and there
Was simply what is human nature.
~ Vidya @ LadyInReadWrites

Can I Say it in Emojis Instead?

👂🚇
😄❤️🦊
👁️🔄👁️🔄👁️🔄👁️🔄
👧👦😂🔄🔄🔄
🔊🌍🔊
👩‍🏫💬”🛑,🫣,🌬️
🚫🫣🛑🏃‍♂️🔊🤣”
👨‍👧‍👦👁️😄
🤔👀
🤷‍♂️⁉️
🕵️‍♂️❓
(🤣⏳)
😢💧
❓
🔓💭
👂🚇
🔄👁️🔄
🌟🌍🌟

~ 🎥📚👩‍💼

the etcs

My E name from India (not too many I can think of) is Ekta which means unity.

As for the songs, one song I enjoyed (and loved when my dad sang it too) is Kishore Kumar’s Eena Meena Deeka (a fun entertainer of a song) and you can watch it here. Another sweet romantic Bollywood song is below:

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, do let me know if you have read any of the books listed today? Which book would you pick first? Will you attempt a poem today? If you do, don’t forget to share it with me!

I am linking up to A-Z, Blogchatter, UBC, NaPoWriMo

And you can find all my A-Z posts (this year and previous years’ as well) here:

A to Z Challenge Posts