I am an emoticon user. Over two years ago I detailed my relationship with them. Since then, I think my usage has evolved quite a bit. A year ago to this date, I wrote a blog post about my favorite emoticon faces. Because I had so much fun with that, I decided I would honor the other emoticons that I use often, you know, the ones that aren’t yellow and round.

With that said, I have picked the five non-face emoticons I like the best and use the most. Welcome to my world.

The Boy

This was an emoji that was designed for me.

I have to start out with the emoticon that they designed in my likeness. Okay, maybe when they created this emoji they weren’t exactly thinking of a youthful Brent but it does appear that way. I use this little guy to represent myself in text messages. I can use it to start off a message and then put a wide array of other emoticons after it to show exactly what I am thinking or doing. Others accept it as well  and use it in their texts to represent me.

The “Okay Sign”

Perfection!

When it comes to the hand gesture emoticons, I use the “okay sign” a lot, many times in substitution for the “thumbs up” emoticon. For whatever reason, I have always taken the thumbs up emoji as a sign of sarcasm. I can’t exactly explain it but that is how I feel. On the other hand, in my head, I attribute the okay sign as meaning much more than just okay. I think of it as a well done or perfection emoticon. In my mind I always have a scene playing out where I do something really well in a setting where you can’t talk. Someone then makes eye contact with me and makes an okay sign while nodding in approval to mean that I nailed it. Because of this visualization, the “okay sign” emoji is my big stamp of approval. 

Monkey

The monkey is perfect to surprise someone or just to be goofy.

When it comes to the animal emoticons, my favorite is by far the monkey. However, I don’t use it solely because I like monkeys. I also use it because of the expression on the face. It pretty much yells out “SURPRISE” or “GOTCHA.” If I play a joke on you, tell you something really cool, or just feel like acting annoying, I will send you three rows of monkey emojis.

Two Beer Glasses

Goal achieved! Time to celebrate.

I don’t use this because I am an alcoholic, I use it because it symbolizes a triumph over something. If a long work week just finished, if I performed well on something, if my brother was going to visit me, or if a loved one or myself reached a goal I would send out the two beer classes. It just means that the hard part or the struggle is over and the relaxation and good times are about to begin.

The Music Note 

Music to my ears.

If I ever want to respond to someone with song lyrics, this emoji will make sure that the reference will never be lost. With the music note you immediately convey to the recipient that you are singing, whether it be an established song or your best attempt at one of your originals. The best part is that once you open up the message your brain processes the text in song. Because of this, you just aren’t reading, you are listening to music.

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Simple enough, right? I will be back tomorrow with the Thursday Rundown. Don’t Blink.