Are emoji a new language?
Jul 26, 2025•20 min
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Episode description
Whether you favour a thumbs up, a laughing face, or a smiling poop, chances are you’ve used an emoji.
There’s currently 3790 different emojis sitting in your phone. And the ominous-sounding Unicode Consortium is in charge of exactly which images of flags, faces and faeces are allowed.
Emojis have captivated society, from love-hearting posts on Instagram, to rating our bathroom experience on a scale of smiley faces. They capture something that words alone do not. New ones are regularly added like we add to the dictionary... so should we be thinking of emojis like a new language?
Guest: Keith Houston, author of 'Face with Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji'.
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