Merry Emoji Calendar Day to you

World Emoji Day 📆 is a made up holiday and I'll believe in Santa if it gets Unicode more presents 😜

When I scan Unicode’s adopt a character pages my curiosity gets the best of me. I just gotta learn more about the names and characters on this page. Who adopted “🖖” and why? (Answer: Vint Cerf, an American Internet pioneer and recognized as one of "the fathers of the Internet".) The “🚶” emoji was adopted in memory of Ryan Neale Cross, who died at the young age of 32, a the victim of a vehicle collision. Then there is Scott Spears who adopted “🍆” … no explanation needed. However, Jason Jenkins adopted “💩”, explain yourself whoever you are! Cal Henderson, CTO of Slack and strong advocate of using emoji in the workplace has adopted “😞” which explains why Slack's shortcode for :( maps to that emoji instead of the more literal ☹️. Ofc there are a ton of corporations who have adopted emoji as well because …. brands.

Today is World Emoji Day (📅) since the calendar emoji is commonly displayed with July 17th. Emoji are for the people, by the people — their popularity driven by the netizens who use of them to express how they feel, who they are, and so much more. Some of the most frequently shared emoji that have not been adopted include Loudly Crying Face (😭) — the 8th most used emoji globally (and recent recipient of Emojipedia's lifetime achievement award lol) — among others:

• Clapping Hands - 👏🏻 The 👏🏼 twelfth 👏🏽 most 👏🏾 used 👏🏿 emoji 👏

• Champagne Glasses - Congratulations!!!!! 🥂

• Black Heart - Love You! 🖤

• Kiss Mark - Kisses 💋

• Pointing Down Hand - Did you see this👇🏽

• Woozy Face - You’re a beast 🥴

• Flushed Face - My bad 😳

• Birthday Cake - Happy Birthday! To 100 more! 🎂

• Expressionless Face - No words 😑

• Crown - You dropped this 👑

• Cowboy Face - Yeehaw 🤠

• Clown Face - We all float down here 🤡

The reason I bring this up is because since starting this newsletter many of you have asked how to help Unicode in a meaningful way. Well, DYK Unicode is a volunteer, not-for-profit organization???? It’s true!!! A very effective way to meaningfully contribute is to become a member, adopt a character, attend the conference and learn more (人*´∀｀)｡*ﾟ+ They don’t give you a cute tote-bag like NPR but you can write off the donation. ^______^

When you adopt your favorite emoji or another character for yourself or as a gift, your donation helps the non-profit Unicode Consortium support the world’s many languages and make the digital world more inclusive. The Consortium is funded by membership fees and donations from individuals, corporations, and other organizations. Your donations help support the vital work of the Consortium, making modern software and computing systems support the widest range of human languages. The Consortium will use your donation to improve language support and to preserve digital heritage. For more details, see How Donations are Used.

Adopt a character, make someone’s day, and support the digitization of the world’s languages! I for one am glad to have Christmas taken care of in July. 🎄