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cover of episode The surprising history (and politics) of emoji, with Keith Houston

The surprising history (and politics) of emoji, with Keith Houston

2025/7/3
logo of podcast Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
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Keith Houston
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Mignon Fogarty
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Mignon Fogarty: 我与 Keith Houston 讨论了 emoji 的有趣之处，包括其历史、在交流中的作用以及文化意义。emoji 不仅是一种视觉符号，更是一种具有丰富内涵和文化背景的语言形式，值得我们深入了解和探讨。 Keith Houston: emoji 的历史远比我们想象的要悠久，从史前陶器上的简单笑脸到现代数字通信中的复杂表情符号，emoji 经历了漫长的演变。emoji 的定义也因人而异，可以是简单的笑脸，也可以是复杂的组合符号。Unicode 联盟在 emoji 的标准化和推广中发挥了重要作用，但同时也面临着诸多挑战，例如如何平衡文化差异、避免刻板印象以及控制 emoji 的数量。我通过研究 emoji 的历史和文化背景，对这种独特的语言形式有了更深刻的理解，也更加欣赏 emoji 在现代通信中的作用。

Deep Dive

Chapters
This chapter explores the surprising history of emoji, tracing their origins from prehistoric smiley faces to medieval marginalia and finally to the digital icons we know today. The discussion covers the development of character sets and the role of Unicode in standardizing emoji.
  • Emoji's history stretches back much further than most people realize, with examples found in prehistoric art and medieval manuscripts.
  • The first digital smiley face was designed by Harvey Ball in the 1960s.
  • The Unicode Consortium plays a crucial role in standardizing and adding new emoji.
  • The plural of emoji is debated, with "emoji" being the Japanese form.

Shownotes Transcript

  1. This week, we look at the world of emoji with Keith Houston, author of "Face with Tears of Joy." He discusses the long history of emoji, from ancient origins to early computer character sets, and the formal process of proposing new emoji to the Unicode Consortium. We also look at how emoji can be blends of multiple characters and tell us more about cultural, generational, and political attitudes.

Keith Houston - Shadycharacters.co.uk)

Keith's book - "Face with Tears of Joy")

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