You know this guy: ???? With his smug little smirk, you may want to slap him; I know my mom would, given the amount of times I’ve heard the phrase “Wipe that smirk off of your face, or I’m gonna slap it off.” The Smirk Emoji, found in text messages and Snapchat in its various forms, eludes some, however. Like other emoji, it is subject to interpretation. Take, for example, the “Tears of Joy” emoji, ???? which was named Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year; I can’t say I have ever used it as its name suggests. I usually pull out that little emoji for “I’m laughing so hard I’m crying.” Like I said, it’s subject to interpretation.
Whether you think ???? is smirking, smug, or provocative, we’re here to unpack the Smirk Emoji. We’ll take a little look at Smirkie’s (can that be his /her name?) history, the various permutations, and delve deep into how to properly use and interpret ????, no matter what platform you encounter him/her on. And if Sir Smirks-a-lot (what do you think of that one?) makes you kinda go “meh” or ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, perhaps you are more of a Shruggie kind of guy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯; in that case, head over to our complete analysis and how to for Shruggie! Whatever your emoji, emoticon, or kaomoji need, Appamatix has got you covered.
I do not have much patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I question whether it has fulfilled its purpose. — Charlie Chaplin
Smirk Emoji — A Brief History
We live in the age of the emoji. It’s convenient, it’s short, only takes up one character so if you need to type more, you can; and most of all, it’s just plain fun. Who doesn’t enjoy getting a text with a little face with crazy eyes and tongue stuck out ???? or a happy little pile of poop ????? I dare you not to chuckle to yourself at that smiling poop. But, we haven’t always chuckled at smiling poops; well, it’s only because we haven’t always had access to smiling poops.
Emoji actually, in a way, began in 1995. Teens in Japan were really big into pagers, (it was the 90s and they were still cooler than anyone else in the world — meanwhile in America pagers were still illegal on most campuses, as there was a general fear that owning one was a gateway to drug dealing and prostitution). The big Japanese company Domoco introduced a heart and the rest, as they say, is history. For a way more detailed history, check out The Verge’s article “How emoji conquered the world.”
We’ve been on a crusade lately to be sure the words emoji, kaomoji and emoticon are not used interchangeably. So just to clarify: emoticons are the 🙂 and 🙁 the ones read on their side and developed in the 80s in the US and are the words “emotion” and “icon” smashed together. Emoji are actual pictures (the word literally means “picture word”) and are coded and came into being in Japan in the 90s. And Kaomoji are the ones meant to read straight on and are made by characters; Shruggie is an example of kaomoji ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ also, the table flip (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻. So let’s call them their right names! They’ve earned it.
To be clear, this article is primarily concerned with emoji. Which means, for readers of a certain age, you will probably hear a floating yellow smiley face whistling “Happy Days Are Here Again,” a la that old Wal – Mart commercial. Yes, that guy is an emoji. And I bet he never knew.
And if you’re looking for the Smirk Emoji, check out these websites for some great copy + paste action as well as coding information:
- http://emojipedia.org/smirking-face/
- http://www.iemoji.com/view/emoji/15/people/smirking-face
- https://www.emojibase.com/emoji/1f60f/smirkingface
Smirk Emoji — Not All Smirks Are Created Equal
Depending on the device, operating system, website, or app you are using to look at and /or create the smirk emoji, they are going to look different. I’ll get into that in a second, but for the time being, let’s just dive into looking at all of these various emoji — these products of a number of developers setting about to communicate the same basic ideas graphically.
If you’re using the latest version of Apple iOS (which is 9.1), this is the smirk for you:
Dig that shading and highlighting. Nope, two dimensions aren’t good enough for this guy. He has to go for an implied third. The jerk.
Meanwhile, on a nearby Google Android (6.0.1)
Always marching to the beat of its own drummer, Android has decided to do the same thing here by presenting the only non-circular smirk face in our line up. As in all things, Android and iPhone users are completely divided on this. Android users insist it’s just as good when you get used to it, and iPhone users insist it must be the result of less than stellar platform security. And he is smushy and he shall be my smushy and I shall call him smushy.
And then we have Microsoft Windows 10Most of these smirkers look like jerks, but this guy just looks happy to be part of the conversation. He knows that he’s been hemorrhaging users to other platforms for years, and he knows that his latest update seems to be bringing people back. Also, notice his is the only mouth that’s smirking in this direction. All the others smirk in the other direction. Even Microsoft’s emoji are out of touch with current trends!
LG G4
The LG smirk emoji is what you want when you need to communicate to the world that, yes, it was you who farted in that crowded elevator, and you’re not the slightest bit ashamed of it.
Samsung Galaxy S5WAKE UP, SAMSUNG GALAXY! Or don’t. The Samsung devices have had a long flight from Samsung’s Korea headquarters and deserve a little nap. Especially since they were sitting next to the LG guy, and he wouldn’t shut up about his stomach problems.
HTC Sense 7
How you doin’? The HTC Sense version of the smirk emoji is the Joey Tribbiani of the emoji world.
Facebook Website
With all the privacy concerns that spring up around Facebook every so often, it’s hard to see this face as an innocent smirk. No, this is the self-important, superior smirk of someone who knows all your favorite porn sites.
Twitter Twemoji 2.0 
And the Twitter version of the emoji looks like it’s trying too hard to look like Facebook. Nah, man! You got a good thing going for you! Just be yourself!
Mozilla Firefox OS 2.5
Mozilla Firefox, the group that first brought you tabbed browsing back in the early ’00s (now an industry standard) now gives you… sarcastic baby. Seriously, look at that and try to see something else.
Emoji One 1.0 
You may or may not already know this, but a large part of the reason why all these different setups have different versions of the same basic emoji is that these emoji are all copyrightable. (Fun fact, uncopyrightable is the longest English word that doesn’t repeat any letters.) Emoji One is open source, meaning anyone can use them.
Phantom Open Emoji
He’s not yellow! So Phantom Open Emoji started as a Kickstarter. The developers wanted emoji for all. Unfortunately, they didn’t meet the goal for a full emoji set, but they got started on the most used. And you can still fund emoji for Phantom Open. They were actually open source before open source was cool, making Phantom Open Emoji totally the hipster of emoji, which explains the altogether different color. Also, this one’s eyebrows are a little Peter Gallager.
Smirk Emoji — Text & Snapchat Meanings
Smirking Face Emoji goes by other names but its shortcode is :smirk:. So what are those other names and what do they mean?
- Suggestive Smile Emoji — You might use the Smirk Emoji after you’ve texted something, erm…suggestive. Smooth.
- Flirting Emoji — It doesn’t have to be suggestive or skeevy, it could just be used to do a little friendly flirting.
- Smug Face Emoji — While some of the above certainly look more one thing than the other, I think it’s safe to say the iOS Smirk is the smuggest of them all. Surprise surprise.
If you are a fan of Snapchat, you know how much Snapchat loves its emoji and symbols galore. You also know how ever-changing Snapchat is. Well, you have probably come across the Smirk Face Emoji in the past few months and wondered “What does that mean?” Along with the other symbols and trophies, we have broken down Snapchat lingo and such in various other articles: curious about trophies? Check out this one. Need to know what the damn hearts everywhere mean and why they are constantly changing? Red v. Yellow Heart right here.
As for ???? in Snapchat, this means for that person, you are their best friend but the feeling / gesture/ relationship is not reciprocated. A.k.a.: they send you a lot more Snaps than you do them. So, the Smirk Face is really, in this case, a Smug Face. That whole thing 3 year olds and stuck up 20 -somethings do when they think they are in -the -know and everyone around them is a dupe. Do with that what you will.
Well, that’s Smirkalicious. No? Okay. Well, that’s the Smirk Emoji, anyways. Let us know your favorite way to utilize this one or a great way you’ve seen it used. And as always, feel free to comment and /or share this article.
