This emoji has two meanings:
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the “original” meaning is based on the “shaka sign” from Hawai’ian culture. It’s often paired with the phrase “hang loose”, which generally just means to relax, have a good time, etc.
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When
mobiletelephones first started to become mainstream, they would havean antenna that extended up and out of the phone chassisa speaker and a receiver that you would speak directly into, so people picked up this gesture that mimicked the shape of acellphone. Pressing it against your cheek with the pinky finger in front of your mouth and the thumb covering the opening of your ear would be accompanied by saying or mouthing “call me” was pretty universally understood and was one way to communicate the desire to speak on the phone from a distance where you could still visually see someone but shouting was ineffective or impractical.
edit: some people have clarified that the gesture predates cell phones, which makes sense.
This way predates cell phones. Handsets have been in use for… Nearly 100 years I think. Not sure exactly when the gesture caught on our it’s origin.
I remember using the second definition in elementary school in the early 90s, before cell phones were on common use, long before they flipped open, and even before they had extendable antennas. I suppose they might have been a cordless landline, but I always assumed it was a corded phone. The “call me” message, then, wasn’t about being able to see someone but not hear them except in very specific circumstances; instead, it was implied to mean “call me later.” It could be used as a way of flirting, or it could be more platonic. I suppose it could also be used in a business setting, though I wasn’t really old enough to know.
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Directly translated it means “radical broh! let’s smoke some weed.”
Most tubular brah
And then you get pitted (so pitted).
The only correct answer in the thread.
It may be Shaka, but in Unicode and emoji it’s “call me” https://emojipedia.org/call-me-hand
The angle of the fingers is all weird. The middle three and the wrist should be pointing up-right, not up.
The one on the GP’s link is a bit better. Maybe even recognizable.
I wonder what system the OP’s one comes from.
Yeah, agreed. I was only looking at the OP’s.
1F919 - Call Me Hand
https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/Unicode-9.0/U90-1F900.pdf
The amount of people that dont know about shakas is killing me. No culture
I knew it meant “hang loose”, but I’ve never heard the term.
Known it as hang loose since the 80’s from Hawaii
Since the 80s in Oklahoma for me. My dad’s generation came up with this. Thought it was common knowledge.
Dont need to have heard the term. Just need to know it’s rough meaning. Some people really think it means “call me” which while a valid interpretation also messes with its actual meaning
Get off your high horse lol. It’s literally called the call me hand in the official Unicode emoji specs. Not everything has to relate to the USA, friend.
That said, feel free to interpret it as the shaka with your friends. No need to foist that on the rest of us.
Bold of you to assume I live in the USA. Consider that this is a very well known symbol in more island nations than just Hawaii. Unicode is allowed name things wrong and they very often do. It’s ultimately the proposal to the Unicode consortium that names the emoji.
Take it to mean whatever you want but saying that shakas is a purely US thing is insulting to it. Think about how long the telephone has existed in comparison to islanders…
Way way more people use the Shaka to mean Shaka as opposed to call me. If you use that symbol to mean call me, I can’t really help you, but I’ve never actually seen that in real life after like 1995.
Unicode naming can be wrong (and it is here) and that’s ok.
Aging yourself, mate
Why ? The sign has different meaning in different cultures. It is just your ignorance of anything outside your bubble.
When the walls fell!
Symbol for the hand used like a good old telephone receiver. Thumb is near ones ear, the little finger is near ones mouth. Used here in Germany when land line were used more often to show someone behind a window: I’ll call you (later).
Hang loose, brah.
Some cultures have a way of counting to ten on one hand. This represents six in one version of that system.
Hang ten, dude!
Ask genx
It’s the “call me hand” emoji.
I’m surprised they made an emoji for something as obscene as this but you know that “two in the pink, one in the stink” thing for the shocker? This is along the same lines: One in the pink, one giving your lady a thumbs up to tell her you’re a chill dude and having a good time.
Doesn’t work as well on guys unless he’s flexible or has a bunch of strategically-placed mirrors.
shaka when the walls fell
Sokath, his eyes open.
Temba, his arms wide
Ahh, beat me to it
Its the Shaka, Hawaii’s official state hand gesture.
Of course the fucking Mormons are trying to own it.
Who copied it from the freemasons
It is not the shaka. It’s the “call me hand” emoji.
It’s not the call me hand, it’s the hang loose emoji!
https://emojipedia.org/call-me-hand#designs
It is in fact, the call me hand from iOS
In Unicode 9, it’s label is ‘call me hand’
I get that it is the exact same symbol as other things. However, officially as an emoji it is recognized as ‘call me hand’.
My guess is to why is to not recognize any particular nation. Because the hand gesture isn’t just Shaka, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_number_gestures?wprov=sfla1 see number six.
Or see ASL, the letter Y.
It’s not the hang loose emoji, it’s the fancy tea party emoji!
Thank you.
This is way more accurate than that urban dictionary.
In Hawaii (depending on where you are) shaka is used all the time. Kinda like waving to someone with a hint of good vibe to it. Also to emphasize “hey that’s cool”. You see it a lot waving thanks to cars, too
To add to this, it’s widely used in Brazil who copied it from surf culture.
China also uses it as part of their one hand counting system. To them it’s the number 6 (pronounced ‘leo’). The use of it in western culture has allowed them to adopt it as a way of saying something is cool. They will say 666 (pronounced “leo leo leo”) while making the hand gesture to say something is cool. This fact was very fun to explain to my ultra conservative family back in the states.
Source: I taught in China for nine years in an international school with a very large Brazilian community.
Fascinating. I wonder how the millions of Chinese Catholics feel about this use.
Catholics are diverse, I suppose the Chinese ones might not be into the Apocalypse stuff that much, not everyone is. I don’t really know, though, could be interesting.
So, while stereotypical, the surfer sign meaning isn’t far off!
Radical 🤙
Hang ten breh
Is there also a hand signal for when something isn’t good?
🖕
Well, I guess I meant a Hawaiian one. But I suppose that one is universal.
It’s known as the hawaiian good luck sign.
