In the new Emoji movie, it's no coincidence that the main character's name is Gene.
Language is evolving.
Emojis are the new ancient runes, and by runes I really mean hieroglyphs.
Hieroglyph is a Greek word that means: sacred writing.
The way we hold our phones is how we used to hold sacred objects.
It's how we would pray, or reach out our palms for life-giving food and water.
But today our sacred writings aren't on the walls, to behold.
Our sacred writings are our in our hands…to be held.
This is a worship pose.
Our hands come together around the phone, similar to prayer hands, but they're also
open, receptive to what the phone gives us: we send out messages into the ether, and then
we wait, hoping for replies, news, and notifications.
Our palms are open to technological alms.
Tones and ringtones, alerts and banners.
Is it the internet of things or the Internet of tings?
What hasn't chimed in?
Which brings us back to emojis.
Like hieroglyphs, Emojis help us tell stories.
Emojis help us bring play and creativity back into our communications.
Each emoji has a particular meaning, a "right" way of using it, and digital language snobs
will tell you you're using emojis wrong.
It's the same way I used Runes in the title because it sounded better than hieroglyph,
which sounded better than ideogram, and like any ambiguous-looking emoji, used in the right
context, you probably knew what I meant.
That's the state of our language.
We use words when they sound good.
Or rather, we use good words in wrongs ways because they sound right.
Which means it's no coincidence that over time the word ironic has come to mean coincidence.
It's how language works: meaning emerges with popular usage.
We do the same thing with emojis.
Each emoji morphs with context.
Emojis are the rise of an old concept in a new form: many ancient languages used graphic
symbols to capture a concept or idea, and that is what emojis do.
Because Emojis go beyond English, beyond Japanese.
Emojis don't speak Russian.
They don't speak Chinese.
Emojis speak human, and their meanings evolve with each person and culture.
It's like emojis speak body language, but more than bodies, emojis speak our minds.
Emojis represent how we see the world, which is different from how the ancients saw their
world, and that is why emojis look like this, and hieroglyphs looked like that:
With emojis, we're all going back to kindergarten.
We can turn ideas into pictures.
Each text is show and tell.
And this could be a good thing.
Together, we're learning to communicate again.
We're expanding our understanding of language, so that we can use language to better understand
ourselves.
Emojis, like good punctuation, help us get the point across.
The way we choose to get the point across represents our personality.
With emojis, we're expressing our feelings and sharpening our creativity.
We're turning ideas and emotions into pictures, because words aren't good enough.
With words, can you say what you mean?
Deep down?
Is there language for that?
We don't always have the words, but soon, we might have a new written language.
Emoji English.
Emoji Chinese.
I say this in jest because emojis themselves will evolve, or they'll be replaced by another
idiographic language that better captures how we see the world, but either way, we're
merging our modern words with the proto-writing style of the ancients.
As much as I used to cringe, and...often still do, one day, all but our most formal communication might look
like this.
As I said in the beginning, it's no coincidence
that the main character's name is Gene: Emojis are about expression, and it's pretty
obvious that as the movie unravels, Gene will learn to express himself in new ways.
Love it or hate it, we're all like Gene: one emoji, many smilies.
So what's happening to English?
By adopting these emojis, by using emoticons, are we taking a step back?
Are these runes ruining our language?
Or are we returning to something fundamental?
Are we learning to speak a language that words alone lack?
Because Language is doing what it's always done:
Evolving.
And that's the point.
Love it or hate it, language evolves.
If it didn't, we'd still be speaking old English.
Not even.
We'd still be speaking caveman.
The firsts sounds that popped out of their mouths, those would be our words.
But language, like life, evolves.
Just as today we don't spake
Shakespeare's English, our descendants won't speak our English.
And while the emoji movie might be a bad idea, or a dark horse success, or a big hit,
it follows the rules of evolution.
If unfit to survive, the movie will die on arrival, but emojis, the bigger idea, will
continue to thrive.
You are as large as your ability to express yourself.
Your face
contains multitudes.
This is my first video essay, so the style itself will evolve, as well as the quality
will improve.
You know, I'm embarrassed about how long it took me to make this video.
Well, I chalk it up to practice.
If you haven't subscribed, subscribe here, because this channel will evolve, you will
help grow this channel, you will help new ideas emerge as this channel grows.
I'm looking forward to that.
Thank you everyone who has already subscribed.
It's been a process.
I'm working on that consistency factor.
I'm working on, the, on all of it.
Thank you again.
Live whys and profit!
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