We all know the drill when it comes to emojis and the labels they come with with Gen Z having previously cancelled the thumbs up emoticon. Often used to signal agreement or for a quick response, it came under fire by the Zoomers, who deemed it ‘hostile’.
While many millenials use the emoji face laughing with tears of joy to express a great deal of laughter, it is not the only emoticon which can be used to convey this sentiment. According to our sources, the most popular emojis to depict excessive laughter are known as ‘the big four’ in emoticon land: the face with tears of joy, the rolling on the floor smiley, the loudly crying face and, finally, the skull emoji, all of which have acceptable meanings for the sentiment.
Millennials and those from older generations are still using the face with tears of joy emoji (the crying laughing face) as their go-to means of earnestly expressing amusement and laughter with emojis.
With their go-to emoji for laughter being the skull emoji,’ Gen Z uses the latter emoji for ‘encapsulating both the popular slang phrase ‘I’m dying laughing’ as well as their more stereotypical ironic, sardonic attitudes.’
It appears that different age groups opt for the different emojis when stating they’re uncontrollably laughing, with Millennials tending to go for the tears of joy or the rolling on the floor emojis and, unsurprisingly, Gen Z choosing the skull as a sign of being dead, Something is so funny.