

Theres a general emotion that’s expressed when somebody sees it in a tweet or text and the open-endedness allows for fascination. That ambiguity is part of the magic about the eyes emoji. If you just responded by saying ‘Don’t be such a dick,’ then the ambiguity would be diminished.” “If your friends says something strange or provocative, or even shocking, then that emoji is an emotive response that dramatizes the situation,” says Brad Greenburg, a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at Northeastern Illinois University. Sometimes it’s better to let the eyes do the speaking. As for the “shifty eyes,” it’s part nosy, part being obvious about the nosiness, tinged with a dash of judgment, and a smidgen of shadiness. Think of it as the gut reaction when a hot person is walking down the street and passersby continue on their course while looking toward said hottie. When it comes to the eyes emoji turning “pervy,” its less crass and more thirst. As Emojipedia points out, it’s sometimes used to indicate “pervy eyes” to signal approval of an attractive photo posted online or “shifty eyes” to convey a deceitful act. There are several uses for the eyes emoji. Look at the eyes emoji long enough and you see crazy.

This is interesting not only because it suggests emoji dialogue can be truly intimate but also because emojis play on ambiguity in a way that implies an altered mental state. The most notable of these - and almost certainly the most important - is the eyes emoji ( 👀 ), which has become a go-to way to describe unmannered, reflexive reactions to uncomfortable or provocative social situations. However, some emojis have transcended English, serving as pictographs of ideas that letters have yet to domesticate. Most emojis simply replace common words or bring a little bit of flare to a text conversation.
