My 42-year-old boyfriend felt the same way, until one day I made a verbal observation to him that when men include a :-) in a text to a woman, it means he wants to fuck her.

He said, "Yes that's probably true."

Over the next couple years he, by now my ex, started using colorful emojis all over the place in desperate Facebook flirting attempts,

because he apparently came to the conclusion that emojis must be chick magnets somehow.

But no, it just made him look like a ___________ (fill in your own adjectives, they're probably correct).

Then perish. 😈🔪

If so, I'll gladly call myself a kid again just to be allowed to use emojis. 😁

🤡

🙄

I love emojis even though I don't use them much. I just think it's really cool that this idea emerged and everyone got on board and now it's almost like a whole universal language - modern hieroglyphics or whatever else you want to call it. Plus they're just kinda fun and sometimes it's easier to convey a reaction with a specific smiley than it is with words. Language, however beautiful and elegant, is still sometimes wanting, you know?