encoding-sets.md

Emoji Selection Process

Mark Davis, presumably on behalf of the Emoji Subcommittee, submitted a whitepaper 17/206 on 28 June 2017 to clarify the influence of major vendors (probably full Unicode members Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and associate member Twitter, maybe also non-member Samsung), entitled Emoji and Vendors: for consideration by the UTC. This was followed on 22 January 2018 by a similar document

I have no doubt that the texts accurately describe how the process of encoding new emoji characters currently works. As already documented in [L2/147], which is backed by [L2/329], I strongly believe this process needs refinements. Both documents expressively assume that emojis are unusual, a notion I will contest.

Emoji characters are quite different.

Pictographs

There is an unlimited number of possible images of things, and there is no goal to encode them all, or even any large number of them.

My first issue is with terminology. We must not think of emojis as images!

An image depicts some graphic original and in the case of a picture it is the original itself.

icon, symbol

motivated, arbitrary

pictograph

Popularity

the goal is to progressively add sets of emoji that will be popular

There are different types and measures of popularity.

• Local and global popularity: geographically,
• Recurring and fading popularity:
• Relative and absolute popularity:
• Perceived and actual popularity:
• Local popularity:
• Local popularity:
• ​

Vendors

It would be pointless … to include an emoji that did not end up being supported by major vendors.

Gatekeeper

Even if it made commercial sense to limit the annual amount of new emojis to a couple dozens, that does not mean the UCS cannot take more pictographic additions than that. If there were many pictographs available in Unicode, the job of the ESC would be mostly reduced to recommending which ones should get the Emoji property and what their default rendering should be (i.e. VS-15 text or VS-16 emoji).

Sets

Synthesis

combining emoticons / Face

Conclusion

Annex: Sets

Astrological metaphors

#388

Celtic zodiac signs

The Celtic zodiac is based on a lunar cycle and thus includes 13 signs.

I have not yet determined whether there ever was a canonical set of zodiac signs and how much is specified by recent neo-pagan culture.

Tarot.com (3rd column group) has the most complete, least canonic collection which is a proper superset of Astrology of the Ancients (1st column group). What's Your Sign (2nd column group) agrees with this in some lunar months, switches some others (Fox, Seahorse, Hawk, one Horse) and has completely different animals in some. Redundancy has been removed as much as possible.

Emoji	Sign	Emoji	Sign	Emoji	Sign	Tree	Start date
🦌	(White) Stag / Deer			🦅	(Golden) Eagle	Birch	December 24
🐉 🐲	(Green) Dragon	🐈 🐱	Cat	N/A	Crane	Rowan	January 21
N/A	Seahorse	🐍	Snake / Adder	N/A, N/A	Seal, Seagull	Ash	February 18
N/A	Hawk	🦊	Fox	🐻, 🦊	Bear, Fox	Alder	🐝, 🦉
(:snake:)	Sea Serpent	🐂 🐄 🐮	Bull / Cow / Cattle	🐍, 🐇 🐰	Adder, Hare	Willow	April 15
🦊	Fox	N/A	Seahorse	🐝, 🦉	Bee, Owl	Hawthorn	May 13
(:horse: :racehorse:)	White Horse	(:bird:)	Wren (bird)	(:bird:), N/A	Wren, Otter	Oak	June 10
🦄	Unicorn	🐴 🐎	Horse	🐈 🐱	Cat	Holly	July 8
(:fish:)	(Rainbow) Salmon / Fish			N/A	Crane	Hazel	August 5
N/A (U11)	(White) Swan			🦎, 🐕 🐶	Lizard, Hound	Wine	September 2
🦋	Butterfly			🐗, N/A	Boar, Goose	Ivy	September 30
🐺 🐕 🐶	(White) Hound / Wolf			🦉	Owl	Reed	October 28
(:horse: :racehorse:)	Black Horse	N/A	Hawk / Falcon	N/A, N/A	Badger, Raven	Elder	November 22/25

Amerindian spirit or totem animals

I do not know whether pre-columbian Amerindian peoples identified the same constellations as did the Europeans, but there seems to be an established folk tradition now to correlate the 12 old-world zodiac signs with new-world totems or spirit animals. There is some variation among sources as to which animals are used, but it is always only animals.

Sign	Start date	Equivalent
Goose, Bear	December 22	Capricorn
Otter, Magpie	January 20	Aquarius
Wolf, () Cougar, Whale	February 20	Pisces
Falcon, Hawk, Wolf	March 20	Aries
Beaver, Elk/Moose	April 20	Taurus
Deer, Eagle	May 21	Gemini
() Woodpecker / Flicker, () Salmon	June 21	Cancer
() Salmon / Sturgeon, () Cougar	July 22	Leo
Bear, Owl	August 22	Virgo
Raven / Crow, Dove	September 22	Libra
Snake, Eel	October 23	Scorpius
Owl, Horse, Elk/Moose	November 23	Sagittarius

Local variants of Asian zodiac signs

In Japan, the Dragon 🐉/🐲 is sometimes depicted as a seahorse instead.

Lucky Charms

Emoji	Charm
	Pig
N/A	Penny or Coin
N/A	Chimney Sweep
	Four-Leaf Clover
N/A	Horseshoe
	Ladybug
	Mushroom, Amanita muscaria / fly agaric
(/)	Rabbit foot
	Mistletoe
N/A	Wishbone
/…	(Red) Heart
/	Key

Driving license categories

https://github.com/Crissov/unicode-proposals/blob/vehicles/vehicles.md

Vehicle Classes of the International Driving Permit 🌐

Established by the Conventions on Road Traffic in 1926, 1949 and 1968 (last amended in 2011), almost all countries recognize and issue licenses complying to some variant of the International Driving Permit (IDP). Many national and local laws defining driver’s licenses are designed to be compatible with the IDP. The vehicle classes of the Inter-American Driving Permit (IADP) are also a subset of the IDP (wherein 7700 lb. approximate 3.5 t).

The IDP is build upon 4 major classes (A, B, C, D since 1926 or 1949), 3 restricting minor classes (A1, C1, D1 since 2011) and 1 extending minor class (E since 1949).

Vehicle Classes of the European Driving License 🇪🇺

The [European Driving License (EDL)][EDL] is a proper superset of the IDP in that it adds some vehicle classes that apply to all member countries: A2, AM, B1 since 2013.

Class	Type	Emoji	Description	Trailer Class
AM	Moped		≤ 50 cm³ ∧ ≤ 45 km/h	—
A	Motorcycle		> 50 cm³ ∨ 45 km/h	—
A1	Light Motorcycle	N/A	A ≤ 125 cm³ ∧ 11 kW	—
A2	Medium Motorcycle	N/A	A ≤ 35 kW ∧ ≤ 0.2 kW/kg	—
B	Automobile / Car		≤ 3.5 t	BE
B1	Quad & Trike	N/A	> 50 cm³ ∨ > 4 kW, B ≤ 15 kW ∧ ≤ 0.45 t	—
C	Lorry		B > 3.5 t	CE
C1	Truck		C ≤ 7.5 t	C1E
D	Bus		B > 1+8 💺	DE
D1	Minibus		D ≤ 1+16 💺	D1E
…E	Trailer	N/A	> 0.75 t	—

As of version 10.0 of the Unicode Standard (UTS10) and version 5.0 of Unicode Technical Standard #51 (UTS51), there are at least 5 characters with default emoji representation defined coherently which can reasonably designate all two-track vehicle classes. Alas, U+1F3CD Racing Motorcycle 🏍 is interpreted as depicting more of an activity than a vehicle by some vendors, who therefore drew it with a rider on top, cf. U+1F40E Horse 🐎 vs. U+1F3C7 Horse Racing 🏇 and U+1F6B2 Bicycle 🚲 vs. U+1F6B4 Bicyclist 🚴.

There is no emoji of a light motorcycle to represent class A1, because 🛵 U+1F6F5 Motor Scooter is too light. It applies to one of the European classes, probably AM, the others do not have appropriate emoji representations yet – also none already proposed or accepted for future versions of the standard. Emoji representation of the class A2 requires a medium motorcycle ranging between a moped or scooter and the light one missing for IDP class A1. There are several common types of lighter automobiles that class B1 applies to, e.g. ones without a roofed passenger cabin with either four or three wheels (quad or trike) or a single-track motorcycle with cabin and safety belt.

No Unicode emoji represents a trailer either.

Vehicle Classes of National Driving Licenses

Some member countries of the EDL have introduced or retained additional national classes. Most of these do (usually) not partake in normal street traffic.

Interestingly, several of these specialized vehicle classes already have emoji representations, although it is unclear whether 🚜 Tractor should represent the bigger, stronger and faster kind which is often used with heavy machinery (F) and, much like a lorry, to pull two trailers at once (“FE”), or a smaller, weaker, slower kind (“F1”).

Tractors and Other Work Vehicles

Class	Emoji	Description
F, F/H, F1, G, L/T, LT, R/T, T, Tkt, Tr (F), W		Agricultural or forestry tractors with or without trailers
F2, L, T	N/A	Industrial tractor
F, F3, G, L/T, T, Tkt, Tr (F), M	N/A	Agricultural machines (harvester, fodder mixer …)
G, W	(	Work vehicle, heavy equipment (loader, forklift, excavator, road roller …)
K	N/A	Garden tractor, animal-drawn vehicle; vehicles controlled by a pedestrian

Public transport

Class	Type	Emoji	Description
H, I/Tv, Tkm, TRAM, V	Tram		Cablecar, streetcar, track-laying vehicles steered by their tracks
T, H/Tb, TR, TROL	Trolley Bus

Other

Class	Emoji	Description
A2, F	♿️	Motorised vehicle / special licence for disabled person
A3, M, P	🛵	Moped → AM/A2 (2-wheeled) cycle with auxiliary engine
BTP	🚒🚑🚓🚨 🚐	Priority vehicles for emergency services, school/public passenger transport, ≤ 3.5 t, ≤ 1+8 💺
C1	🚒 🚙	Fire engine and caravan > 3.5 t
H	⚠️	Vehicles for dangerous goods
L	⚡️	Motor vehicles propelled by electrical power
N	N/A	Vehicles used for short distances on public roads
S/A+, T	N/A	Snowmobile with or without a trailer sledge

Road warning signs

#106 (comment)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Animal-related_warning_road_signs

Australia

Sign	Emoji	Animal
		Kangaroo
		Herds: cattle, sheep
		Camel
	N/A	Rhea/Ratite
		Horse with or without rider
		Koala
	N/A	Wombat
		Deer

Europe / Vienna Convention

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_European_road_signs#Warning

Sign	Emoji	Animal
		Cattle
		Horseback Rider
		Frog or Toad

Africa SADC-RTSM

Sign	Emoji	Animal
		Cattle
		Horse
		Sheep
	N/A	Antelope
		Horseback Rider
		Elephant
	N/A	Warthog
		Hippopotamus

USA

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Diagrams_of_animal-related_U.S._Warning_Signs

Sign	Emoji	Animal

Kung-fu styles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Animals

#399

Emoji	Southern	Alternative	Qigong	Xingyiquan
	tiger	tiger	tiger (wood)	tiger
N/A	crane	crane	crane (metal)
	snake	snake		snake
		monkey	monkey (fire)	monkey
	dragon			dragon
			bear (earth)	bear
	leopard
N/A		mantis
			deer (water)
				horse
				alligator
				cockerel
				eagle
N/A				hawk
N/A				swallow
N/A				ostrich

Alternative European card suits

#289

The standard international, originally French, card suits are Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds. Due to compatibility with legacy character sets, Unicode has had these rather abstract symbols in hollow White ♡♢♤♧ and filled Black ♠♣♥♦ forms since forever (U+2660–7). Most original Japanese emoji sets also featured them: some in black and red, others using four different colors: red heart, blue spade, orange (or golden) diamond and green club. Unicode emojis use the filled Black variants for all of them, which are, for some obscure reason, not found at successive codepoints.

There are, however, local variants of the four suits that derive from the Minor Arcana.

• Wands: batons, staves, acorns, clovers, clubs
• Cups: roses, hearts
• Swords: pikes, shields, leaves, spades
• Pentacles: coins, disks, rings, jingle bells, tiles, rings, crescents, diamonds

					Tarot

Spades

Emoji	Suit
	Leaf
	Shield
	Sword
N/A	Wand / Staff / Pike / Stave

Clubs

Emoji	Suit
()	Acorn
N/A	Baton / Club
	Clover

Hearts

Emoji	Suit
( )	Rose (flower, blossom)
	Cup

Diamonds

Emoji	Suit
N/A ( )	Coin
	Diamond
	Ring
N/A ( )	(Jingle) Bell
( )	Crescent (Moon)

Body parts

• Genitalia
• Mamma / Breastsst
• Buttocks

Finger games

• rock, paper, scissors
• rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock
• ...

Heraldry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heraldic_charges#Beasts