# Why do emoji point backwards? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2022, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278 "2022-10-15T00:21:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/1 "2022-10-15T00:21:57Z")
English is read left to right. Why are these emoji facing the wrong way? 🐟🐘 🦿 🦤🏇 If I write the horse race was exciting. It seems like you expect the 🏇 to run in the direction you read. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/2 "2022-10-15T00:23:25Z")
Maybe emoji are not all based on left to right language users. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/3 "2022-10-15T00:24:12Z")
Emoji often comes after text. 🙂 Also the concept of emoji originally comes from Japan where text goes right to left. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/4 "2022-10-15T00:25:37Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > English is read left to right. > > Why are these emoj facing the wrong way? > > 🐟🐘 🦿 🦤🏇 > > If I write the horse race was exciting. It seems like you expect the 🏇 to run in the direction you read. You have it backwards. IIRC in Egyptian the animals/people always face the beginning of the line. > [@Max\_S](#): > > Also the concept of emoji originally comes from Japan where text goes right to left. Does it indeed come from Japan? In any case, Japanese is traditionally written top to bottom, right to left. Japanese orthography is based on Chinese characters, but I am not sure if the pictograms have a preferred orientation as in Ancient Egyptian (here is a cow, ~2nd millennium BC: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/%E7%89%9B-oracle.svg/300px-%E7%89%9B-oracle.svg.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/%E7%89%9B-oracle.svg/300px-%E7%89%9B-oracle.svg.png) ). A good question. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/5 "2022-10-15T00:40:55Z")
I remember the old school emoticons “:-)” "; )° “:O” face left to right. I used them a lot on Usenet posts. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/6 "2022-10-15T00:44:20Z")
Emoji 絵 e (picture) 文 moji (character) 字 I guess you’re right though, Japanese is only right to left if written vertically. So for the cell phones that emojis come from, that wouldn’t be the case. However, if you’re texting someone their speech bubble points to the left side of the screen. Maybe that’s why? ~Max ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/7 "2022-10-15T02:01:00Z")
Because there is a new British monarch, custom dictates that all emojis will now face in the opposite direction. That’s what I’ve read, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/8 "2022-10-15T02:08:09Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > If I write the horse race was exciting. It seems like you expect the 🏇 to run in the direction you read. The horse is running just fine. It’s just in the backstretch, is all. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/9 "2022-10-15T02:56:11Z")
The answer would appear to be in [the Unicode Technical standard for emoji](https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr51/#Direction). > [@](#): > > Emoji with glyphs that face to the right or left may face either direction, according to vendor practice. However, that inconsistency can cause a change in meaning when exchanging text across platforms. The following ZWJ mechanism can be used to explicitly indicate direction. If the base emoji image is not available facing in that direction, the user should see the fallback appearance showing an indication of the desired direction. If direction ZWJ sequences are supported and the base emoji already faces that direction, the direction emoji should be ignored. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/10 "2022-10-15T06:19:26Z")
Thank you @Francis_Vaughan. I would have never thought to check that technical source. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/11 "2022-10-15T13:38:09Z")
FWIW, this mildly annoys me often when I talk to a friend about walking her dog. I put a 🚶‍♂️🐕‍🦺 at the end of my text, but it seems like it would make more sense if we were facing the other direction 😅 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/12 "2022-10-15T14:12:48Z")
In Europe, horse races are run clockwise. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/13 "2022-10-15T14:16:41Z")
One can’t go without mentioning this one: 🫃 The logic is impeccable, the result debatable. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/14 "2022-10-15T14:20:09Z")
‘Well, If they didn’t use precautions, he could be up the spout.’ (Red Dwarf, ‘Parallel Universe’) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/15 "2022-10-15T18:54:47Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > In Europe, horse races are run clockwise. Do we count as Europe these days? > **[Does It Make a Difference If a Course Is Left or Right Handed? | Best Betting...](https://www.bestbettingsites.org.uk/faq/does-it-make-a-difference-if-a-course-is-left-or-right-handed/)** > > The term horses for courses is one of many phrases used in horse racing that has transcended the sport and become widely adopted in general parlance. Its origins come from the fact that some horses simply run better at certain courses than others.... Scroll down for the list. It’s not a fifty-fifty split, but there are plenty of left and right handed tracks. j ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/16 "2022-10-15T20:44:01Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I remember the old school emoticons “:-)” "; )° “:O” face left to right. > > I used them a lot on Usenet posts. I see those as top-on-the-left. Not as front-on-the-left. They only make sense as a visual simile if you turn your head sideways to read them. Not true of the pregnant woman, the running horse, etc. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/17 "2022-10-16T02:48:09Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > In Europe, horse races are run clockwise. Clockwise as seen from above or from below? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/18 "2022-10-16T05:25:09Z")
In England they’re run counter-clockwise. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-emoji-point-backwards/973278/19 "2022-10-16T06:32:15Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Not true of the pregnant woman It is a bit more subtle. 🫃🤰