Emojis are the body language of the digital age
You do not need emoji.<p>You need to communicate.  Clear, concise, eloquent, and precise use of english* allows this to occur. The reason that this breaks down is because too often people resort&#x2F;revert to using slang or not thinking before they write.<p>You end up with text equivalent of &#x27;verbal diarrhea&#x27;.<p>I do not know what 99% of those &quot;pacman&quot; faces are supposed to mean.  Maybe it&#x27;s because I&#x27;m on the Autistic scale and I have trouble reading expressions, maybe it&#x27;s because I&#x27;m an &#x27;old fart&#x27; and these kids need to get off my lawn.<p>I understand that emoji are just a simple evolution from emoticons.  I do not understand why we needed to expand on:<p>=)    or    =(<p>TFA posits that emoji are &quot;body language&quot; for internet communication.  If people just wrote what they fucking meant this wouldn&#x27;t be an issue.  (Look at the constant misunderstandings that arise from sarcasm or lack thereof, for an excellent representation of poor writing.)<p>*Disclaimer about my own ignorance:  I don&#x27;t know if non-english speakers suffer the same follies as english.  English is a sloppy, imprecise language.  It takes effort to clearly convey a message that cannot be misconstrued.