20 facts you probably didn't know about emojis

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Published 17th Jul 2017
Last updated 18th Jul 2017

It was World Emoji Day this week, but why is it celebrated and what is the most popular emoji? Here are 20 facts that you probably didn't know about this 'modern language'.

17 July is 'World Emoji Day' because it features on the 'Calendar' emoji. 📅
World Emoji Day was created by London-based Jeremy Burge, founder of Emojipedia.
The first ever mention of #WorldEmojiDay was on July 11, 2014 when Mr Burge first posted about it from a new @WorldEmojiDay Twitter account.
There are currently 1,144 officially recognised emojis.
'Emoji' was added as a word to Oxford Dictionaries in 2013.
The word emoji literally means 'picture' (e) + 'character' (moji) in Japanese.
It is generally recognised Emojis were created in Japan in 1999 and Higetaka Kurita is considered the father of emoji.
Emojis weren't really fully embraced by the masses until 2012 when Apple released iOS-6.
Emoji is now the fastest growing language in the UK and evolving faster than ancient forms of communication, such as hieroglyphics.
There have been at least two all-emoji social networks that exist.
Emoji Tracker tracks all emojis used in real time on Twitter.
A recent emoji trend is tattoo art with proud wearers of emoji include Miley Cyrus and NBA player Mike Scott.
The most tweeted emoji is tears of joy.
Nearly half of Instagram comments contain an emoji.
The Museum of Modern Art owns the original emoji collection.
In 2009 the entirety of Moby Dick was translated into emoji.
Tennis star Andy Murray marked his wedding day by tweeting the story of the day entirely in emojis.
The most popular emojis – tracked live on emojistats.com – are currently Face With Tears of Joy, Red Heart, Face Blowing a Kiss, Smiling Face with Heart Eyes and Smiling Face with Smiley Eyes.
The most recent emoji update for Summer 2017 has seen the addition of a breastfeeding emoji, a woman in a hijab emoji and flags for England, Scotland and Wales.
On an Apple device look closely and the French Fries emoji has a little smiley face emoji on the front of the red packet.

Check out 10 emojis that mean something completely different to what you think >>

Later this year The Emoji Movie will be coming to a big screen near you, starring the voices of Patrick Stewart and James Corden the film unlocks the never-before-seen secret world inside your smartphone.

Watch the trailer below >>

No. 14 as of 5/2/15.

Emojis