Britain’s top 10 emoji ‘icks’ revealed – so are YOU guilty of using any of these icons? 

Whether it’s a happy smiling face or a cheeky eggplant, emoji are now a regular part of many Brits’ daily messages.

But if you’re a regular emoji user, a new report may fill you with dread.

Ahead of World Emoji Day next week, experts at musicMagpie have revealed Britain’s top 10 emoji ‘icks’.

Their findings suggest that several popular icons make us cringe — with the “two hearts” emoji topping the list as the most ick-inducing.

Liam Howley, Chief Marketing Officer at musicMagpie said: ‘With so much of our communication now being conducted through technological devices, it’s no wonder the ick has transcended the physical world and entered the digital world.’

For the study, musicMagpie asked 2,000 UK adults what they thought of various popular emoji

For the study, musicMagpie asked 2,000 UK adults what they thought of various popular emoji.

That was evident from the results the best emoji ick was the “two hearts” icon, with 45 percent of respondents finding this emoji worthless.

This wasn’t the only heart emoji considered an ick, with the “heart suit,” “red heart,” and “smiling face with hearts” also appearing in the top ten.

Other faces that topped the list were the “kissing face,” the “winking face,” and the “laughing face with open mouth and eyes tightly closed.”

Meanwhile, the top ten was completed by ‘person with folded hands’, ‘fire’ and ‘rolling eyes’.

In contrast, the least cringe-inducing emojis turned out to be the “party popper,” “flushed face,” and “partying face” emoji.

It’s not just emojis that make us cringe in messages.

MusicMagpie’s survey also found that poor grammar and punctuation are a major annoyance to 24 percent of Britons.

“It’s clear from the research that we need to do more than just brush up on our technical ways,” Mr Howley added.

The results showed that the most popular emoji icon was the “two hearts” icon, with 45 percent of respondents finding this emoji worth cringing

musicMagpie’s survey also showed that poor grammar and punctuation are a major annoyance for 24 per cent of Britons

The report comes shortly after a study suggested that using emoji in business emails could be a hindrance rather than a help.

Scientists indicate that using smiley emoji in work-related emails can make you appear incompetent, especially if you don’t know the recipient.

The researchers hope their findings will encourage people to think twice before adding emoji to professional emails.

Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, looked at the effect of using emoji in work-related emails.

Dr. Ella Glikson, one of the study’s authors, said: “Our findings provide the first evidence that, unlike genuine smiles, smileys do not increase the perception of warmth and, on the contrary, decrease the perception of competence.”

‘Pregnant man’ included in emoji list 14.0

Two emoji – “pregnant man” and a gender-neutral “pregnant person” – are included in the 14.0 list of approved emojis coming to devices in 2021 and 2022.

The Pregnant Man and the Pregnant recognize that “pregnancy is possible for some transgender men and non-binary people,” according to Emojipedia, a voting member of the Unicode Consortium.

Men get pregnant in real life as well as in fiction, Emojipedia argued, like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1994 movie “Junior.”

‘Pregnant man’ and ‘pregnant person’ emojis can also be used as ‘an ironic way to show a food baby, a very full stomach caused by eating a large meal’

Guidelines to use the term “pregnant person” instead of “pregnant woman” – as issued by the British Medical Association in 2017, in an attempt to recognize trans and non-binary people – were called “an affront to women” at the time .

Jane Solomon, Emojipedia’s “senior emoji lexicographer,” outlined the new emoji in a blog post titled ‘Why is there a pregnant man emoji?’

“The new pregnancy options can be used for representation by trans men, non-binary people or women with short hair – although of course the use of these emojis is not limited to these groups,” she said.

‘Men can be pregnant. This applies to the real world (e.g. trans men) and fictional universes (e.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger in [1994 film] “Junior”).

“People of any gender can also be pregnant. Now there are emoji to represent this.”

For now, Unicode is keeping the more conventional “pregnant woman” emoji, which has been an emoji since 2016.