Re: Just a beer?
Nah, emoji is an nipponism (or a japanese neologism if you want to be picky about it). Emoticons took off over there as a way to quicky communicate ideas over text message, partly because they work well with the prevailing writing systems and partly to fit within the character limits or short messages. The name itself stems from the Japanese love of taking English words and localising them (witness pokémon - pocket monster - and furasuko - flask as two disparate examples). So, just as romanised text became romanji (or romaji) to fit with kanji, emoticons became emoji.
The word was adopted to the west by osmosis, through apps originally written in japan, or targeting japanese audiences, using the term in their English localisations as well.
So less of that high-horse rubbish about the kids today, alright? They know more than we like to pretend.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
