The Five Emojis That We All Still Need

Image source NewYorker.com

Unicode Consortium, the company behind the standards of text’s appearance in software, introduced roughly 270 new emojis this month. You know, the funny little shapes that allow us to communicate messages like “crystal ball, dragon, ice cream cone” and expect our friends to understand what we mean?

Anywho, the massive list of characters will now include useful images like a hot pepper, the Star Wars “we come in peace” hand symbol, an eyeball, a dagger knife and a bed (how did this not exist before?) along with not-so-useful icons like an oil drum, quilt square ornaments (huh?), a mood bubble (what is this?) and an optical disc.

Blatantly missing from the long list are a few very necessary emojis for a food-lovin’ gal like myself. Take a gander at these missing pieces to the emoji pie. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news…

Cheese

With a baby bottle, pizza and ice cream in the mix, we know the emoji creators are not lactose intolerant. So what’s the deal? I can’t count the number of times that I’ve looked for the non-existent cheese emoji. Wouldn’t a 3D yellow triangle be easy to code?

Hot Dog

Apparently I’m not the only one who’s heated over the lack of a hot dog emoji. Back in March, according to the Wall Street Journal, a diehard ‘dog fan campaigned (petition and all) for a hot dog emoji with no avail. Apparently the hot dog icon is strategically missing, as emojis are meant to represent a universal language and condiments vary by country. The obvious solution? A plain hot dog/bun image along with a few standard condiment emojis. AmIright?

Taco

Again, how could this be overlooked? On any given taco Tuesday, I long for a simple taco shell/filling emoji to describe my activities, but find myself flipping aimlessly through a taco-less list of images instead. Don’t even get me started on burritos…

Lobster, Crab, Clams, Oysters, Mussels… need I go on?

Fried shrimp and whole fish emojis are quite frankly not enough for New Englanders like myself who aim to eat multiple species of seafood on any given sunny summer day. Where are all the bivalves? Crustaceans, anyone?

Bacon

Is bacon not part of an all-inclusive, universal language? I certainly disagree there.

Take a peek at all 270 emojis in their basic form here. What would you add to the lacking list?

Posted by Mary