Before You Add That Smiley Face
We’ve all been caught off guard by culture’s ever-changing use of words and slang.
- I remember when calling something sick was not a good thing. Today, “sick” is a positive term.
- Being called a drip when I was in high school was an insult, but now it’s a term for someone cool.
- “No cap” is not a person with their head exposed; these days, “no cap” refers to telling the truth.
This is nothing new. Word meanings change over time. Here’s the original meaning of a few words:
- Nice: foolish or stupid
- Disappoint: to remove from office.
- Garbage: the internal parts of an animal
- Luxury: lust
- Secretary: someone entrusted with the secrets
But it’s more than our words that are changing! Even emojis are taking on new meaning. What this image communicates to you tells us what generation you’re a part of.
I’ve written previously about the quintessential image from the 70’s: the bright yellow smiley face. For years, this image reminded us to have a nice day. Then emojis entered the digital landscape and it kept a similar meaning. We add it to a text to convey that we hope our text puts a smile on your face.
But for Gen Z, our current crop of teenagers and young adults, this emoji does not put a smile on their face. They view it as sarcastic, passive-aggressive, and even dismissive. (They feel the same way about the thumbs up emoji.) That means a well-intentioned note of encouragement—“You played great today. 😊”—is viewed as sarcastic, as if I meant they played poorly. Sigh.
How do I respond to this?
- I’m not going to kowtow to every whim of culture out of fear of maybe, possibly offending someone. I’m still going to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Easter, and if you are a female, I’m going to refer to you as a “her” without first asking what your gender preference is.
- At the same time, I want to be aware of how other cultures understand words and language. A missionary going into a new country knows he must learn the language and culture to communicate the gospel clearly. It’s beneficial in our own American culture to have an idea of how different subcultures use language. We may all be speaking English and using the same words and emojis, but I’m not communicating clearly if what they hear is different than what I mean.
The apostle Paul embraced the need to understand the culture.
“To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law — though I myself am not under the law — to win those under the law. To those who are without the law, like one without the law — though I am not without God’s law but under the law of Christ — to win those without the law. To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some” (1 Cor. 9:20-22).
I’m not going to start shopping at H&M or Forever 21, but I do want to ensure that I am clearly communicating love, grace, and encouragement in a way the younger generations understand.
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Banner photo by Katja Anokhina on Unsplash.
