A01=Keith Houston
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Author_Keith Houston
Category=GTC
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Category=UG
Category=UY
communication
emoticon
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google
history
iphone
japan
japanese
language
linguistics
messaging
nerdy
pictograph
pop culture
sexting
smiley
tech
tech history
technology
texting
typing
unicode
Product details
- ISBN 9781324075141
- Weight: 327g
- Dimensions: 140 x 211mm
- Publication Date: 01 Jul 2025
- Publisher: WW Norton & Co
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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We are surrounded by emoji. They appear in politics, movies, drug deals, our sex lives and more. But emoji’s impact has never been explored in full. Named for the world’s most popular pictogram, Face with Tears of Joy tells the whole story of emoji for the first time.
In this rollicking tech and pop culture history, Keith Houston follows emoji from their birth in 1990s Japan, traces their Western explosion in the 2000s and considers emoji’s ever-expanding lexicon. Along the way, Houston explores vital developments in tech history and reveals the body of technocrats governing this 3,600-character language. He also addresses the eggplants in the room: risqué emojis, controversy and accusations of “selling out”. Finally, readers learn about the future of emoji as some of the language’s pioneers consider what comes next. Face with Tears of Joy is a language- and tech-lover’s delight, stuffed with gloriously nerdy details, illustrations and fun.
Keith Houston is the author of Face with Tears of Joy, Empire of the Sum, Shady Characters, and The Book. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and on Mental Floss, BBC Culture, and Literary Hub. He lives in Linlithgow, Scotland.
