2 Girls 1 Podcast: Emojination and the Quest for Better Emoji

The Daily Dot (Licensed)

Where do emoji come from, and how can we make them better? 🤔

Not everyone can see themselves on the emoji keyboard.

 

Matt Silverman

 

chris boylan

Tech

Posted on Sep 3, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 7:25 am CDT

Most people think of emoji as trivial text message pictures—good for a laugh or a witty reply.

But creating them is a complex process debated by a consortium of tech giants. And as emoji become more widespread, so too does their cultural and linguistic importance. Do all the world’s cultures understand what pancakes are? Do little yellow smileys accurately represent all races and ethnicities?

This week on 2 Girls 1 Podcast, Alli and Jen (actors who perform weird internet stuff on stage) talk to Jennifer 8. Lee about Emojination, her campaign for multi-racial emoji, and whether emoji might evolve into a true language with grammatical rules and complex concepts like identity and tense.

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2 Girls 1 Podcast is supported by listeners. A lot of time and resources go into research, booking, editing, and publishing this show. If you love internet culture as much as we love ’casting about it, consider a contribution of $1 or $2 per month to help offset our production costs. Become a patron of #2G1P and earn some cool perks while you’re at it:

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2 Girls 1 Podcast is hosted by Allison Goldberg and Jennifer Jamula, and is produced and edited by Matt Silverman in New York City. Production assistance is provided by The Podglomerate.

Want to hear more from the Daily Dot? Check out the Upstream Podcast, tackling the week in streaming entertainment, and We’re All Gonna Die, our weekly politics roundtable.

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*First Published: Sep 3, 2018, 5:30 am CDT