The widespread use of DeviantART, Twitter, and Tumblr played a significant role in popularizing the cursed emojis that have become a common sight on social media today. It was in July 2019 that these eerie icons gained even more attention, as people began creating sets of cursed emojis upon request. During that time, these peculiar symbols were mainly found on meme-focused websites.
Back then, the emoji selection on commonly used platforms was rather limited. To express ourselves more effectively, many of us started customizing memes using these cursed emojis. As a result, a lot of us hopped on the trend of incorporating these unusual emojis into just about anything we shared online.
Like many users on social media, we tend to follow trends when crafting or sharing our posts. With emojis gaining popularity, many social media users sought to have a wider range of emotions and gestures represented. To create more expressive posts, we often turned to memes for funny and relatable images and illustrations.
Over time, digital designers and creators merged the worlds of memes and emojis, giving birth to the cursed emojis we are familiar with today. Now, you can find some of these expressive illustrations right in your preferred emoji keyboards. Examples include the Flushed Face emoji and the Loudly Crying Face emoji.
Cursed Emojis: Background And Uses
The craze for cursed emojis really took off in 2019 when many social media users started commissioning them. However, what many didn’t realize was that these peculiar icons had already been in widespread use long before their sudden surge in popularity. Nowadays, it’s hard to scroll through social media without encountering these eerie smileys.
Because of their popularity, you might even spot some of these cursed emojis in your favorite emoji keyboard. It’s uncanny how some of the newer additions resemble the “cursed” expressions we’ve become accustomed to using. Over time, they’ve transformed into more exaggerated versions of familiar emojis. It’s fascinating how the fame of cursed emojis has given rise to two distinct categories of these unsettling icons.
Express Yourself With Cursed Emojis
The first category of cursed emojis is all about using exaggerated expressions on those familiar yellow smiley faces. These expression-based cursed emojis are some of the earliest variations we’ve come across and used online. They were born out of a need for more diverse facial expressions, as the regular yellow smileys only covered basic emotions like happiness, sadness, and anger. With such limited options, people eagerly embraced the wide range of expressions depicted in these “cursed” memes.
Creators played a crucial role in allowing users to convey complex emotions such as boredom or tiredness through these unique emojis. Despite their somewhat bizarre appearance, expression-based cursed emojis have provided a clearer and more nuanced way to express emotions in our social media posts. Thanks to their growing popularity, we can now use smileys to convey feelings of shock, shyness, disgust, and many more complex emotions. As time went on, expressive cursed emojis like the Stressed emoji and the Power Cry emoji were added to the mix, further enriching our online communication.
Combining Memes And Emojis
The second category of “cursed” expressions you’ll come across online is the Hybrid cursed emojis. As the name suggests, these hybrids were born when eerie-looking emojis were combined with familiar memes. When it comes to conveying their intended meanings, these hybrids are usually pretty straightforward.
Hybrids are less adaptable than the expression-based cursed emojis and can only be utilized for that specific function. You must be acquainted with the history of the memes and emojis that make up these combos in order to comprehend and effectively apply them. Without this context, your followers might easily misinterpret your intentions. An example of this type of cursed emoji is the Crazy Face emoji.
Stressed Emoji
Among all the cursed emojis out there, the stressed emoji has certainly made the most appearances across various social media platforms. Its fame actually paved the way for numerous hybrid cursed posts. As these eerie icons achieved viral status on social media, we saw several versions of the stressed emoji featuring creepy sounds and animations. People eagerly used these creations from various creators to react to posts on platforms like Twitter and Tumblr.
If you’re a frequent user of Skype, the design of the stressed emoji might ring a bell. One of the most famous versions of this cursed icon was born from an edited image of Skype’s animated smiling emoji. The creator captured a frozen moment just before the yellow smiley completes its smile, resulting in wide-set eyes and a somewhat forced-looking grin that gives it that stressed appearance. However, the most readily available version of the stressed emoji typically features a set of bloodshot eyes. If you want to incorporate this particular cursed emoji into your chats, you can consider using the Neutral Face emoji. Alternatively, if you want to stay true to the wide-eyed look of the original Stressed Emoji, you can simply pair it with the Eyes emoji.
Screen-Reaching Emoji
The Screen-Reaching emoji falls under the Hybrid category, primarily because of how it looks. It’s a fusion of the screen-reaching hands emoji and the stressed emoji. Unlike most of the cursed stressed emojis, this hybrid version exclusively uses the one with bloodshot eyes. When you use it in your posts, it’s like saying, “You Think You’re Safe?” or “Hand Them Over.” Because of its unique hybrid nature, there’s really no other emoji quite like it currently available.
Power Cry Emoji
Initially, the Power Cry emoji became well-known as a variation of the shy emoji. However, its distinctive features eventually transformed it into an exaggerated crying face. Originally, the shy emoji had eyes resembling those of the Pleading Eyes emoji, with a wide and teary-eyed look that sometimes resembled a crying gif.
As people began using this exaggerated crying expression, the Power Cry emoji gained fame in its own right. This led to a shift away from associating it solely with the shy emoji. Eventually, the release of the Loudly Crying Face emoji took over the spotlight on social media, eclipsing the fame of the Power Cry emoji. By March 2021, the Loudly Crying Face emoji had become the most popular emoji used on Twitter.
Shy Emoji
As we mentioned earlier, the Shy emoji has various iterations, and its exact origin is a bit elusive. However, its popularity has given rise to several different versions, each with its own unique characteristics. Similar to the Power Cry emoji, these different iterations of the shy emoji have gone viral on social media, often having distinct names. Among the well-known versions are those featuring blushing cheeks or large teary eyes.
Thanks to Emoji Version 1.0’s additions in 2015, users of the shy cursed emoji now have similar alternatives in icon form, rather than just images. For instance, the Flushed Face emoji is a great choice if you want to convey embarrassment in your online chats, and you can also opt for the Face Without Mouth emoji for a different expression of shyness.
Xok Emoji
Back in 2004, the menacingly sharp-toothed Xok cursed emoji made its debut on various social media platforms. This meme was actually crafted in homage to the infamous Pac-Man computer virus, also known as Pac-Man Ransomware, which was notorious for encrypting files and coercing victims into following specific instructions. Consequently, Xok is often described as a god-like entity.
In contrast to many other cursed emojis, there isn’t an alternative Xok emoji readily available in your standard emoji keyboard. This renowned meme features Pac-Man with distinctive bulging almond-shaped eyes and a wide-open mouth, proudly displaying its razor-sharp teeth and a freckled tongue. Given its intricate design, it’s quite challenging to envision how it could seamlessly fit into our emoji keyboards. The overall surreal complexity of this emoji might be a hurdle for emoji developers to tackle.
Crazy Face Emoji
Surprisingly, the Crazy Face emoji falls into the category of hybrid cursed emojis. Its creation involved blending the exaggerated expression from an extreme close-up shot of a wild anime meme. Some even suggest that it might be a zoomed-in image of an enraged anime character. These existing versions eventually underwent edits to become emojis.
If you’re looking for alternatives to these cursed emojis, you can typically find options within the emoji keyboards on most platforms. However, we would advise against using the Flushed Face emoji, even though it bears some resemblance to the cursed icon. Instead, you might consider using the Face with Symbols on Mouth emoji. While it might not be as well-known as the wide-eyed closeup, it offers clearer communication in chats. Another option is the Face with Tears of Joy emoji, which may have those angry-looking eyebrows, but you can pair it with your message content to convey a different tone.
“Is It For Me?” Emoji Set
The “Is It for me?” The cursed emoji set is a subcategory of expression-based cursed emojis. Unlike some other cursed icons, you can readily find alternatives for this variant in your go-to emoji keyboard. The key components are the Pleading Face emoji and the two pointing fingers, but you can arrange them in whatever order you prefer.
When you use this emoji set, it’s often to convey something you desire or hope to receive. The “Is For Me?” meme or emoji set tends to gain popularity, particularly during the Christmas season. Besides indicating the gifts you’re hoping for, this cursed emoji can also symbolize things you admire or have a liking for.
Fuckboy Emoji Or Baseball Cap Lip Bite Emoji
Out of all the cursed emojis on our list, it’s safe to say that the Fuckboy emoji tends to get under the skin of many online users. The design of this emoji unmistakably portrays the stereotypical pose you often see from younger guys on social media, and because of this, it’s commonly used to playfully poke fun at the preferences of men who adopt this particular expression.
Unlike most Expression-based cursed emojis, you won’t find an alternative for this self-assured and proud-looking expression in your standard emoji keyboard. So, when you want to send it, your best bet is to stick with using a saved image. Its features appear to be a clever edit of Apple’s Grimacing Face emoji. The creator skillfully modified the left eye to give it a wink and added a lip bite to the mouth. The finishing touch is the classic “fuckboy” stereotype, complete with a black backward baseball cap.
Final Words
cursed emojis have become a fascinating and expressive phenomenon in the world of online communication. They gained prominence in 2019, primarily through social media platforms like DeviantART, Twitter, and Tumblr. These peculiar icons allowed users to convey a wide range of emotions and expressions that were missing from traditional emoji sets.
There are two main categories of cursed emojis: expression-based and hybrid. Expression-based cursed emojis introduced exaggerated facial expressions, offering a nuanced way to convey complex emotions. Examples include the Stressed emoji and the Power Cry emoji, which enriched online communication by providing more emotional depth.
Hybrid cursed emojis combined eerie-looking emojis with familiar memes, creating straightforward but context-dependent symbols. The Crazy Face emoji is one such example, originating from an anime meme and transformed into an emoji.
Some cursed emojis, like the “Is It for Me?” emoji set, found their way into standard emoji keyboards, making them easily accessible for users. Others, like the Fuckboy emoji, remained unique and were usually shared as images due to their specialized nature.
In essence, cursed emojis have developed into a distinct form of online communication that users may use to convey their feelings and thoughts in original and often amusing ways. They still have a big impact on the constantly changing world of internet communication and meme culture.