An International Student’s Guide to Texting in America

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Wait, I'm sorry, but I don't understand."

"When was this due?"

As an international student trying to navigate life regarding speaking, reading, and writing academically, life is difficult enough, so I'm creating a short guide on how to text your newfound friends.

Being able to express yourself comfortably and wanting to convey the correct attitude is often a personal goal of most 2nd or 3rd language speakers. And you may have mastered being able to do that in person, but completing the same task over text can be a new challenge.

Below is a short guide on what most emojis mean. There is a small generational gap with some emojis, and there will always be a few differences within subcultures of people, but most of the emojis listed are pretty universal.

First are the faces. Most emoji faces are universal, but a few may have a different meanings regarding American text messages.

The 😈 emoji usually has a playful yet naughty meaning behind it. I would only recommend using it with people you know - who will be aware of its intent. 😈

The 💀 emoji varies in meaning depending on the generation. Some Gen Z individuals prefer to use this emoji instead of a 🤣 emoji. Some Millennials use it as a reaction to a shocking situation. Gen Z will also say, "I'm dead 💀" to say something was hilarious.

The 👁 👄 👁 combination of emojis usually conveys a feeling of shock, awe, wonder, or being lost and confused in a conversation.

The 🌚 evokes an uncomfortable feeling as if you were being watched. I would suggest sending this to a friend that you can see, but they cannot see you. It's meant to be used humorously, don’t be a creep.

The 👩‍🦯 emoji is sometimes used to say, "I didn't see anything."

The 💅 emoji is primarily used by women who want to radiate BBE. Feel free to use the urban dictionary to look up the meaning of BBE.

🔞🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈

From here on out, there are a few 🫣naughty🫣 emojis that should not be used lightly.

The 🍑 and the 🍒 emojis are used about a woman's body, and I will let your intuition guide you as to what parts.

The 🍆 is for a man's body part, and I will again let you guess what part.

The 💦 is a dirty emoji in America. Please don't send this in a text to someone unless you mean it in that way 🫥.

These emojis are typically related to drug usage 🍃😶‍🌫️ so please be careful when using them.

If I missed any, or have learned some new ones, feel free to comment them down below! I hope some of these have been helpful and let you gain some confidence in texting your newfound friends.