We all use emojis. However, depending on your generation, the very same icon might have a very different meaning. Especially when comparing emoji meanings between Millennials and Gen Z, there's been a great evolution. In the following, a Gen Zer explains the different takes on some of the most popular emojis.
Emojis are essential to digital communication, but the same symbol can have a totally different meaning, depending on your generation. In fact, my generation has driven a big shift in emoji meanings over the past few years. While Millennials mostly use emojis quite literally, us Gen Zers have put our own spin on emojis.
The heart emoji ❤️
The heart emoji comes in many colors, and, in its most simple (red) form, means "love".
Millennials usually use the emoji the way it's intended — to show affection towards others.
However, Gen Z uses it sarcastically most of the time. For example, when answering a question but trying to let the other person down gently, the answer will probably be a "no" accompanied by the heart emoji.
Thumbs up emoji 👍
For Millennials, the thumbs up emoji means quite literally "good job" or "well done".
Gen Z, however, either uses it as a very passive-aggressive way to punctuate a statement or as a sort of annoyed or bothered shrug-off response like "yeah, sure, whatever".
Skull Emoji💀
The skull emoji stands for "skull" or "death". Accordingly, Millennials use it to express "feeling dead", for example using it to describe how they feel after working out.
Gen Z has taken the original meaning of the emoji and just tossed it right out the window. To my generation, this emoji means that something is either so funny or so cringy that you die laughing. By the way, we also sometimes use the headstone emoji (🪦) to show that we think something is funny.
Shocked Face 😨 or 👁️👄👁️
There are two different emojis that my generation uses to express a shocked face. One is the traditional shocked face emoji (😨). That's probably also how Millennials use this emoji.
But for many members of Gen Z, this is a bit too boring. So we've come up with a combination of several emojis to create the same expression, only slightly more… "doomed".
We took the eye (yes, singular eye 👁️) emoji, the lips emoji (👄), and another eye emoji, and made our very own "shocked emoji". Why? I have absolutely no idea!
Blood type emojis 🅰️🅱️🆎🅾️
🅰️, 🅾️, 🅱️ and 🆎 each represent the blood type with the corresponding letter. There are probably not many Millennials using these emojis (unless they're actually talking about blood types).
Gen Z, of course, has come up with a very special meaning. We use these emojis to make someone’s “narrator voice” read things in a weird way.
For example, we would use the B Blood Type Emoji to spell "beans" like 🅱️eans to give it a special sound effect. This could be a distorted voice or a really loud car bass.
The 🅱️emoji is also used to replace other letters of the alphabet, like: We had 🅱️urkey for 🅱️hanksgiving. Why? Simply because it's funny!
Fire emoji 🔥
The fire emoji stands for "fire" or "hot". This one emoji is actually one where both, Gen Z and Millennials, can (somewhat) agree on a meaning. Both generations use the emoji to describe someone looking absolutely stunning in a certain picture or outfit, or just someone who looks very attractive in general.
Millennials used to have different slang in combination with the emoji (“looking hot!”), while Gen Z has turned the emoji itself into a compliment. So, if you ever see a person commenting “THIS” followed by one or even multiple fire emojis… you’re very welcome.
Standing person emoji 🧍
This emoji simply means standing. Millennials most likely either use the emoji to show they’re just idly standing around, or they don’t use it at all, which is honestly probably the more likely option.
Gen Z, being the absolute conglomerate of agents of chaos it is, has decided that the emoji should have a different meaning. It's, in essence, the emoji equivalent of the meme “Ma'am, this is a Wendy's.” For people not familiar with this meme: it's a response to people overreacting.
We use the standing person emoji when we don’t quite know what to say to something somebody said, because what they said sounds so absurd to you.
Dotted line face emoji 🫥
The dotted line face emoji traditionally means being invisible or hidden, but almost in a comical way. It's reminiscent of a disappearing person in a cartoon, where you see a dotted outline around the character’s silhouette before they vanish.
Millennials most likely don’t use this emoji, as it's quite obscure. Gen Z, however, uses this emoji in awkward situations, similar to the standing person emoji, to express that the situation is so uncomfortable that they wish to disappear.
Usually, Gen Zers use it when there’s an uncomfortable topic of discussion in a group chat with a lot of different people.
Cowboy emoji 🤠
Yeehaw! Millennials probably don’t use this emoji – unless they happen to be talking about cowboys or Westerns.
Gen Z… we use it as a meme. Purely as a meme. Also, because a good chunk of my generation is pretty unhappy with the state of the world and is horrendously depressed, we use it as a "smile through the pain" type of emoji, which I’m aware doesn’t really make too much sense to anybody but Gen Z, but it is what it is. 🤠
Person tipping hand emoji 💁♂️
This emoji is typically used to express sassiness or to punctuate any sort of sarcastic comment. My best guess is that a lot of Millennials in fact don't use this emoji.
Gen Z uses this emoji as it’s intended, mostly, at least. When a friend does something, and it ends badly for them, there will always, always, absolutely always be that one friend who gets a gigantic "I told you so" moment. We also use the emoji to punctuate sarcastic comments, to imply sassy behavior from the sender.
Emoji meanings: Gen Z vs. Millennials
As you can easily see, Millennials tend to use emojis very literally, and they also tend to stick as close as possible to the actual definition or meaning of the emoji.
Gen Z, in contrast, uses emojis almost like a strange form of digital art form or hieroglyphs. We generally use emojis more jokingly and add our creative spin to them because we truly want to express our emotions with these little icons.
Of course, you don't have to start using emojis like the younger generation, but it could clear up some confusion you might have had over a younger co-worker's chat reaction. 💀
