Do you interpret a ๐ as a rude reply?
Every time somebody sends me a thumb I take it as "whatever you say you fucking dumbass" and it pisses me off.
And ya, I'm aware that that the replies are going to be thumbs, let's see em ya jerks!!!
Itโs a pretty simple โacknowledgedโ to me. Itโs a โIโve not just seen your message, Iโve read it, and I have no further commentsโ.
I donโt think Iโve ever interpreted it as rude.
Nah, and to be honest it threw me off to hear some people interpet it that way. It's always meant "acknowledged" or "I agree, no notes" to me.
If I wanted to be rude I'd do this instead: ๐๐
in response to plans?
chill.
in response to something like a political opinion?
highly sarcastic.
๐
I give a ๐ on a reaction message all the time cause I'm too lazy to respond to it using words
Why waste word when ๐ do trick?
Reacting with "I agree" instead of ๐ in the reaction field can completely disrupt a conversation.
It really depends on the age of the sender.
30s and younger: Fairly dismissive response. Not outright insulting but pretty rude.
40s and older: genuinely meant as an earnest acknowledgement of your message.
GenX here. Shit, I do thumbs up frequently to confer agreement.
And I will indeed give you a middle finger emoji to say, "you fucking dumbass."
Millennial here, I use the shit emoji
Boomer here, what's an emoji?
Depends on who's saying it and to what, and in what manner (message reaction, its own separate text).
"Hey who wants pizza tonight?" in the group text.
Bunch of๐reactions mixed in with some ๐ and ๐บ
That's normal and people agreeing with you.
"Hey could you pick up some toilet paper on the way home?"
๐ reaction.
That's a neutral kind of acknowledgement.
"Hey man, that was pretty fucked what you said back at the party. I think the others want to talk to you about it."
"๐"
That's rude and dismissive, and not just an acknowledgement text.
Aka context matters, like all forms of english communication.
First of all - Iโm shocked that anyone would use a thumb up like in your last example. Thatโs obviously extremely rude and disrespectful.
Second of all - Iโm shocked that some people canโt see the difference of the usage of the thumb up and believe that itโs always rude, regardless of context.
It's a little bit of a generational/cultural gap, I think! Like how Ok. and Ok... are fully normal to boomers, but anyone millennial and younger are going to read that as being short, or as an ominous trailing off compared to the neutral, no-caps-no-punctuation kk or ok.
I think children up through the younger end of millennials are just more likely to give neutral-to-lightly-positive acknowledgement in other ways, like ๐ซกor โ or ๐ฅฐ or ๐ฏ. ๐ is reserved by some for lower enthusiasm or even a restrained, mild annoyance.
That was pretty fucking funny
๐
The chat built into my hospital's charting software has the 'thumbs up' react so you can quickly and easily show that you've read it. So for me it just means 'heard', 'roger', etc.
In a professional setting, it's been a normalised acknowledgement, but socially I try to avoid it. Depending on the generation it can be taken the wrong way.
If it's coming from my older coworkers, I know it's meant well. They approve of whatever was discussed and are too busy to type out more, or its unnecessary.
If it's coming from my gen z boyfriend, I have pissed him off.
Depends on context. Most of the time it's just a confirmation. You are reading your insecurities into it.
If I want to make it sarcastic I like ๐๐๏ธ๐๐๏ธ๐
no definitely not. but that's probably because i don't associate with people who think im a piece of shit
Whether a thumbs-up emoji is a good response really depends on the situation.
If it's a quick 'yes' or 'okay' to a simple question, it's fine. But if someone's asking for your opinion or needs more details, it can seem like you're not putting in much effort.
Also, how well you know the person matters a lot. You might use it with a close friend. In contrast someone you don't know well, it can be considered rude.
Whatever you say you fucking dumbass ๐
Really just depends on the context but generally it isn't what you think it means and it's simply your personal interpretation. You have to assume people are well intentioned or you start having trust issues. Most people don't see themselves as the asshole and I guarantee you do shit that pisses other people off even if you mean well.
Depending on the context, it is can be used sarcastically, which may be rude. But I've used this even in semi-formal settings.
I have to ask, are people these days that easily offended?
๐
๐
๐
I agree with all of what you said. Both paragraphs
Yes lmao, where you been? People want to be offended now to the degree where they look for things that aren't really offensive but they can use it for sympathy likes.
Maybe I just have tuned my ability to notice it from years of "nothing is ever good enough" parents, teachers, and employers, but it's literally the same mechanism that made my mom say "well a B is good but you need to be getting As. (And later) Well that low A is good but you need to get it higher." Or my boss just always saying "faster faster" no matter how much "faster faster" you go, so I now just say "you got it boss" and continue at my pace instead of breaking my back just to hear "faster faster" again in response like he's some kind of weird Gull that gained the ability to mimic human speech it can't comprehend. It all comes from the same place, plus a dash of clickbait.
For a long time when I worked in restaurants and the boss would start blasting us with "faster!!!" we just all go "working hard, working hard" with no added enthusiasm or energy.
Not really, maybe passive agressive at times, but I always see it as casual agreement.
No ๐
Initially I did yeah, but eventually learned that different people use it differently. So good practice to never assume sarcasm through emojis unless you know the person well
No. Thumbs up means that I agree with you. I know that the younger generation has started interpreting a thumbs up as something negative though, which just blows my mind.
It's not the thumbs up in itself that is seen as rude, but the short dismissive affirmative.
Someone that sees it as rude would feel like they put effort into their message and expect some kind of effort back in the reply,
the single emoji response can also make it seem like you didn't even care to read it, and just say replied with something to make them shut up.
Right, but sometimes you just need to say "I've read what you said. Sounds good to me. No need to keep discussing.", especially when organising things.
๐
I understand how someone can see a thumbs up as something rude in certain circumstances. What Iโm having a hard time understanding is that some people seem to believe that the thumb up is ALWAYS rude.
What is rude, as you say, is the lack of a proper response, depending on the conversation. Not the thumb in itself.
It's called the use of sarcasm.
It says we are all a bunch Fonzies here, and what is Fonzie?
Reference to an old American television show where the "cool" character used to make the thumbs up gesture.
Donโt touch the leather.
๐๐ป(deragatory) /s
๐๐ป (respectfully) /s
๐
Depends on context for me.
I'm going to say it's not a "you" problem, but a "who you're surrounded by" problem. Is this something you're used to percieving accurately? Do you have friends or family who would actually mean it rudely? Because, as others have mentioned, I simply would not be able to function at work if I interpreted ๐ as rude/sarcastic.
I have to assume you're young or your work doesn't involve communicating with coworkers or clients over text. I'd also be curious if you look back at this post 5-10 years from now and think "wtf was I on about?" (I'd also be curious if civilization still exists 5-10 years from now, but I digress...)
Personally i do. Same as the ๐ wink smiley... comes across as a bit of a cunt in my opinion.
Could be because there were shitty people that would use it in condescending ways at me.
I used to but then at work everyone always uses the thumbs up on slack. So I got used to it. Nowadays it depends on the context of the convo
I found it rude but not anymore and I have to really think about it. On facebook messenger, the default emoji is ๐ and during my stay on that platform (~2011-2017) it was regarded as a rude, low effort dismissal, at least inside my circles.
Nowadays, i double take and find that people don't indent to be rude to me. After all, i'm not on facebook anymore and these people weren't in my circle.
I'm with you but it's a generational thing. Are you a millennial?
Oh wow. I thought only I had an issue with this.
You see it as dismissive. Low effort reply, like they couldn't be bothered. It's not inviting continued conversation so you see it as someone telling you to stop talking to them.
If I were to guess. In your eyes. They might as well have replied with "cool story bro".
Which is now forever a sarcastic term and no one regardless of what you say, will believe that you actually found their story cool.
It depends on the context and the person for me.
Depends on context - if it's a yes/no question or something that can be replied to with a simple "great" or "okay", thumbs up serves as a "yes" or as a gesture that the person has read the message and doesn't have any problems with it.
It might be considered rude though for more complex discussions, where you need to respond in sentences
No big deal at all
๐
๐
Sometimes
I can respond with ๐ and if people don't like it then next time I probably wouldn't respond to there texts with anything at all. The thumbs up IS me putting in the extra effort to acknowledge & respond to received messages. Also, it was my avatar on my previous college online profile.
Just try to remember that there is almost always more than one way to interpret a body of text even if it's a single character.
Just like a curt "yes" or even "yes sir" can be seen as somewhat rude in some contexts, so to can its emoji equivalent.
It depend on the context/group.
At work, no biggie, it just tells me that you acknowledge my message and currently have nothing useful to add.
With my friends, who usually heavily rely on emojis and "oldtimey smileys" (like xD or y.y)? Ya, unless you completely eminate happiness and friendship, I'm concerned about your mood / standing with me.
It has too much function to take it as a dismissive reply... unless it's obvious.
For work I use it all the time to confirm I got an email. I can see how it may ruffle feathers, but my other colleagues don't even confirm they got the message. Using the thumbs up also helps me organize what I need to do because half it is just in emails I gave a thumbs up to.
If I just replied ๐ to this post, I can see how that would be bullshit but that's not how Im using it.
Its kinda like saying "sir" or "ma'am." Some people are too good for it imo and some people may have good reasons to feel uneasy about it, but to me it is respectful to use it as long as you aren't clearly a shit head.
I had this discussion with my wife a few weeks ago. She did that to a work colleague who took offense to it. I explained that that's because her colleague is about 8 years younger than us.
Basically, if the recipient is 35 and under, it's offensive. If they're 40 and older, it's not. Anywhere in between, look for context.
The context will be more telling of if it's actually rude or not. There's a lot of chat software nowadays where you can "react" to a message with a thumbs up and people use it to acknowledge what was said.
Just make sure you don't use it, or fail to clarify and confirm the meaning of its use, in a business setting or you could be in some trouble.
Most of the time, yes.
Sounds like a you problem. An emoji is just that, context of usage defines it's meaning.
๐ ๐ฆ
Really moist eggplant.
This is literally my "message received" emote.
If people thought it was rude, I'd be fired by now.
Next post:
"Why do people respond to a message that doesn't need a response when they could just send an emoji?"
There are workgroups at my job that use it as acknowledgement and for voting consensus as we are allowed to attend meetings camera and mic off.
๐
Be careful that people don't think you're contractually agreeing to something with the emoji: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/06/canada-judge-thumbs-up-emoji-sign-contract
Maybe youโre just that good at your job.
Are you old?
I see that as an old people response.
Why tho? I am not old and this is fairly standard in my work place, some forums I use, messages with friends etc. Maybe it's a culture thing but definitely not an old people thing imo. Its the easiest way to send an acknowledgment or agreement with a message without spamming the group chat and it makes it easier to count if you interpret it as votes.
Edit: I am talking about reacting to the messages directly, I don't reply to someone with just a thumbs up emoji when I can just say Ok in most context.
It depends on what it's in response to.
Dinner at 6 at Greasy Spoon?
๐
Entirely reasonable.
Should we do the project in COBOL?
๐
Entirely unreasonable, but not rude.
My cat just died.
๐
Rude.
This is the best answer. Also, even in some serious case the thumbs up is interpreted as "noted, all good". It does not mean positive action, just saying "noted".
This is absolutely spot on. Well done.
I guess I just picture a chat as a textual representation of a conversation and if I said to you, want to get dinner at 6, and you replied ๐ in real life, I would cancel the dinner lmao
It's pretty clear the issue here is you. Specifically, your reaction. The solution to than can only come from you. The world will not bend to you and the world is not responsible for making you feel certain things, that's all you.
I see where you're coming from now. In most English-speaking cultures, it is not conventional to use hand gestures as a substitute for spoken words in a conversation. Breaking social conventions for no apparent reason is at least potentially rude.
You're translating those conventions directly to chat. Chat is not spoken word, and it is conventional to use emojis, at least the really unambiguous ones, instead of typed words in chat some of the time. People do not usually do this with any rude or insulting intent.
You saying youโd straight up cancel a dinner because someone gave you a thumbs up instead of a verbal response genuinely blew my mind lmao. Ngl fam, thatโs a bit extreme. I give people the thumbs up all the time, and imagining someone becoming so upset at me for doing it that theyโd cancel our dinner together is insane to me. I couldnโt be friends with such a person without feelings like so was constantly walking on eggshells.
I do not think the majority of people would agree that chat is a textual representation of a conversation. Itโs its own thing and this is evident by slang, leetcode, emoticons, emoji, and euphemisms (๐๐ฆ). How people talk over text is completely different than how they speak in real life, especially when theyโre typing fast.
If you are mid drinking or chewing and somebody asks you a question, a thumbs up is perfectly acceptable as a yes. Otherwise its a bit odd, but not offensive. Its like a +1 affirmation
You're weird.
You and I are very different then. If I tell someone that dinner is at 6 and they give me a thumbs up, I would interpret that as "I acknowledge that I heard you and have no objections. It is not worth taking my attention off of whatever I am doing."
It's probably one of the auto responses on their side when the text alert pops up. Maybe they were driving or I. The middle of something and it was just easier for them to respond this way.
No. Your reading of it is unusual, in most contexts. It almost always means "agreement, and I have nothing of substance to add".
It can be rude if the thing you've said should warrant a substantial response. Like if you wrote "my brother just died in a car wreck", a thumbs up (or probably any emoji) would be an inappropriate response. Heavier stuff warrants whole words.
But if it's like "Can you get cat food at the store? The kind we always get" then a thumbs up is an acceptable shorthand for "yes, I understand and commit to this request "
Nope, because I use it myself. But I don't use it as a conversational tool though. I just use it as confirmation that I received and read what you sent but it isn't necessary to continue the conversation. For example, I'm already in a conversation with someone and the assumption is I need them to send me a file. When they finally send it over, I just react with a thumbs up to confirm I got it. Context is important. The emoji is only as meaningful as the context of the conversation it is in.
Yeah that sounds like a you problem. Most people use it to just mean "ok." But I mean, if you said "mom just died ๐ญ" and you get "๐" as a reply, that one's probably rude.