If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is an emoji worth? When it comes to flirting and trying out your best pickup lines, sometimes an emoji can help do some of the heavy lifting for you.
When it comes to texting, there are lots of second meanings to many of our favourite little icons. For example, a peach rarely has anything to do with the fruit. The aubergine has nothing to do with the vegetable. And the water droplets emoji doesn’t signify good hydration.
Learning to read between the lines of an emoji text is essential if you want to succeed on dating apps in 2023. So let’s explore some of the most popular flirty emojis and when you might use them as a chat up line or for sexting.
Emojis are best used sparingly. If you start to rely on them too much, you risk the other person completely missing your point. You can use emoji on the end of a text to help change the meaning slightly, or you can use them alone to help kick start a conversation or push it in a flirty direction.
For example “want to come over tonight?” has a very different meaning to “want to come over tonight 😏”
Sometimes an emoji can do all the heavy lifting and remove the need to say anything at all. But you shouldn’t rely on it too much.
If you’ve been asked a question and it’s a yes/no answer and the answer is a resounding yes, then you might be able to get away with just an emoji. Or if the question is asking something more flirty, like “what did you have in mind?” then an appropriate response might be 😈.
Remember that younger generations don’t like to rely on emoji too much in their communications, and they could even be interpreted as passive aggressive. If you’re in your 20s or 30s, don’t lean too heavily on emoji.
There are a few emoji that are known for their flirty undertones. Try the following emoji the next time you want to let someone know you’re interested over text.
😈 The devil emoji is a great way to say you’re trying to be naughty.
😏 The smirking face emoji is one of the cheekiest emojis to add to your texting. It encourages the reader to see the flirty side and leaves no misunderstandings that you’re trying to be seductive.
😉 This might be more old fashioned, but a wink can help to get your point across. This simple emoji can flip the meaning of a message and make it far more dirty.
😘 A simple but effective choice for text flirting is the blowing a kiss emoji. This is more direct and can be seen as more respectful than some of the more suggestive emoji.
👅 Make no mistake, this is more than just an innocent tongue. It’s often used to indicate oral sex, and is often seen alongside the splashing emoji. 💦
🍆 Unless you are discussing a recipe for aubergine curry, you can pretty much guarantee that this one has flirty undertones.
🍑This innocent peach emoji is often used to indicate the bum. Pair it with the aubergine emoji to make a rather wild request.
While there are some that work really well, others might be best avoided. They aren’t particularly sexual and could be interpreted as off-putting.
💩 While this is actually supposed to be a chocolate ice cream, that’s not what it means to anyone. Leave the poop jokes out of the conversation.
👍 This is considered a passive aggressive emoji and should be avoided at all costs. If you’re on board with what someone is saying, find a better way to communicate your enthusiasm.
🤪 This emoji invites questions, and not the good kind. If you don’t want to derail your sexy chats, avoid this emoji at all costs.
😒 Be careful, as this one sits alongside the smirking face. This one could indicate that you’re not happy with the direction the conversation is headed in. Avoid this one, unless you want the conversation to stop.
😬 This could be interpreted as embarrassed or awkward, so try to skip this one. There are rare occasions when you might get away with this, such as trying to recover from a pick up line than didn’t land.
