Re: Facepalm gesture/emoticon proposal

From: Doug Ewell (doug@ewellic.org)
Date: Tue Mar 01 2011 - 09:37:51 CST

  • Next message: Asmus Freytag: "Re: Facepalm gesture/emoticon proposal"

    lohmatii netizen <lohmatii at gmail dot com> wrote:

    > Facepalm is one of the popular meme
    > http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/facepalm
    >
    > Facepalm implies emotional gesture and it's graphic representation
    > (try to google facepalm.jpg). Another gesture may be double facepalm.
    >
    > Is it possible to expand gesture symbols area and include facepalm
    > (U+1F650 for example) & double facepalm (U+1F651)?

    It used to be that characterizing a non-legacy-encoded symbol as a
    "popular meme" would be a compelling argument *not* to add it to
    Unicode. "Novel" and "short-lived" symbols were supposed to be
    discouraged. You might want to check with the Symbols Subcommittee to
    see if this principle is still in effect.

    It might also be worth asking the Subcommittee whether the Emoticons
    block is meant to become an open-ended repository of all known gestures
    and facial expressions. I can imagine, say, FACE WITH EYES CROSSED TO
    ANNOY YOUNGER BROTHER, but I don't see why that needs to be a plain-text
    character.

    You might need better evidence for disunifying the two-handed version
    than simply to say it "may be another gesture."

    (I don't really think "popular meme" is a good description of this
    gesture anyway, even if a Web site about memes says it is and posted a
    group of pictures of people and cartoon figures clapping their hands to
    their faces, and gave it a snappy one-word name. It's not as though
    some celebrity at the Oscars or kid with a webcam just came up with this
    gesture, posted it on YouTube, and suddenly it's Spreading Like
    Wildfire™. People have been doing this for a long time, probably
    centuries.)

    --
    Doug Ewell | Thornton, Colorado, USA | http://www.ewellic.org
    RFC 5645, 4645, UTN #14 | ietf-languages @ is dot gd slash 2kf0s ­
    


    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Tue Mar 01 2011 - 09:44:16 CST