文章来源：华尔街日报 

Sending Smiley Emojis? They Now Mean Different Things to Different People

By Aiyana Ishmael

（焕晨稍作改动）

A smiley face isn’t always just a smiley face. Behind the yellow, wide-eyed emoji’s (表情包）grin lurks an intergenerational minefield（代沟的雷区）.

People over 30 generally use emojis to convey what the images always did, she said, while younger “digital natives”（数字世界的本地人） might ascribe sarcastic（讽刺） meanings to them, or use them as shorthand for an entirely different thought.

Mary, 21, started an internship（实习生） at a Brooklyn digital media firm and was taken aback when co-workers greeted her with a bright smiley face. For Mary, the welcome didn’t seem warm but dismissive （不屑一顾）. She sees the image as conveying a kind of side-eye smile, not a genuine one.

“I had to remember they are older, because I use it sarcastically,” Mary said of her new co-workers. “There are so many emojis, and Gen Z（ 1997 – 2012出生的）can never take things in a simple manner.”