Next in the line of arbitrary and meaningless Internet holidays is World Emoji Day, coming to trending hashtags near you this July 17. (Why? Because it’s the date displayed on the iOS calendar emoji, you unobservant dummy.)
In honor of this hallowed occasion, Twitter released a trove of data that shows which emoji are the most popular around the world, proving that many of our long-held assumptions about some international cultural norms aren't totally off-base.
Citizens of the U.S. and U.K. apparently have a lot to be weary about, with users tweeting the cranky face most frequently. (Do I detect a whiff of post-Brexit regret?) Australia and Germany, meanwhile, seem to feel incredibly relaxed about the state of their affairs. Down in South America, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina are throwing what looks like a radical trans-continental rave.
And then there's Spain, flexin' as it works its way out of an economic crisis that drove its youth unemployment rate up to 55 percent.
The real question: Did any of the people using those emojis know what they actually mean?
