People Are Freaking Out Over Whether They See A Hugging Emoji Or A Film Camera 🫂

This is the prayer hands/high-five saga all over again.

The creation of emojis is probably one of the greatest communication upgrades that has happened in the last 25 years.

i started using emojis as a joke now i b Iike 😈💘🧚🏼🧚🏼🥰🥺💀🥺👀🧚🏼😌🧚🏼✨💖😌💘✨👁👄👁💯👯‍♀️🧿👅🙈🙈😈❤️❤️🤩😳😭

— jay ❀ུ۪ (@jayhs1k) September 19, 2020

Twitter: @jayhs1k

Sure, we've got smart phones now, the internet is infinitely faster, and VR headsets allow us to literally enter another dimension from our couches — but there's just something about sending a sweet little emoji to top off the end of a sentence that hits the spot.

Yet even with how great emojis are, there's no denying they can sometimes get confusing.

This 😩 means moan? I thought this was a sigh emoji..

— Lee⁷ (@baselinebae) June 29, 2020

Twitter: @baselinebae

How can anyone forget the chaos that ensued when people tried to claim 🙏 was actually a high-five and not prayer hands?

Apple

Let it be known that Emojipedia, which is basically the emoji bible, does not agree with the keyboard search suggestion that the 'folded hands' emoji is a high-five.

Then there's the ongoing debate over whether 😭 represents sadness, pride, embarrassment or unmatched happiness.

me trying not to use the 😭 emoji in every other sentence pic.twitter.com/E4RhJkxzxC

— maze ☆ (@m0sstrx) September 25, 2023

Twitter: @m0sstrx

The Holy Book of Emojis™️ calls this one the 'Loudly Crying Face' and defines it as 'inconsolable grief or other intense feelings' which seems like a wildly broad range of emotions to represent.

But turns out, there’s yet another emoji that has left people confused for months: This bad boy 🫂.

Now why I thought this 🫂 emoji was this camera 🎥 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭✌🏾✌🏾✌🏾✌🏾✌🏾

— juski (IG: EARRINGDEALER) (@earringdealer1) August 31, 2021

Twitter: @earringdealer1

As proven by TikTok user @kehoee, this confusion between the 'film camera' emoji and 'people hugging' emoji is actually more common than you think.

@kehoee

that CANNOT be a hugging emoji #huggingemoji #filmcamera #fyp

♬ original sound - STAR_LIGHTZ_XD💫

In a since-deleted viral video on the same topic, another user who goes by M (@communismisforthekids) herself pondered why everyone was seemingly "posting a film camera" up until "a couple weeks ago".    

“I might be a fucking idiot,” she started her TikTok. “But every time I see the hugging emoji – now I know it’s a hugging emoji – but for the last, um, ever since I knew it existed, I would look at it and be like, ‘Why is everyone posting a film camera?’”

And astonishingly, @kehoee and M are not the only ones who have been making this mistake.

@emilieleyes.hypnosis

ITS THE SAME SHAPE OKAY???? Pls tell me im not the only one 🫠 #emilieleyes #mentalhealth

♬ original sound - Emilie Leyes • Hypnosis

Also "only realising this month", TikTok influencer Emilie Leyes shared her realisation that people weren't actually sending her an "old-fashioned film camera turned to the side" to show support on her content. 

"I was always so confused why people always commented that emoji, of a camera, on my videos about mental health," Leyes laughed. "I literally thought that it was people saying 'that's a good video 👍' — it makes sense now."

Now according to Emojipedia, and well, my eyes, 🫂 is definitely two people hugging.

Apple / Michelle Rennex

And I guess I can kind of understand where this confusion is coming from — the two emojis do have a similar general shape to them and emojis are famously tiny when you look at them on phones as most people do. 

However, as someone with a –8 eye prescription, even I can tell that 🫂 and 🎥 are not even close to being the same. Unless you squint extra hard. 

But what did you see at first glance: An old school film camera or a two people embracing in a warm hug?

Twitter: @DJTGIF

Let us know in the comments below!