What the new pinch emoji means around the world

Many cultures use the same pinched finger gesture to make a point

One way of adding extra meaning to your text messages is through emojis which can convey a thousand words.

Emoji 13.0 is the set of 117 new emojis that have been approved for release in 2020, the “pinch emoji” gesture is designed to represent the Italian hand gesture ma che vuoi (or "finger purse").

The “What do you want?” Pinched Fingers Emoji Proposal submitted by y Adriano Farano, Jennifer 8. Lee and Theo Schear of Emojination to Unicode.org explain the significance of this emoji.

It is part of the Italian gestural expression which is now widespread in Mediterranean countries and according to research published by the New York Times; Italians use this gesture roughly 250 times a day.

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The gesture is used by pinching your fingers against the thumb and moving your hand back and forth against your chest which translates to “what do you want?”

The proposal also highlights the significance of the pinched finger gesture in history and even movies, for example, the veteran Italian actor Antonio De Curtis, better known as “Totò” would make use of this gesture on the screen.
In fact, former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in 2015 was seen flaunting this gesture to give an impactful speech in the Italian Parliament hence it is not just an emoji but represents the Italian culture and celebrates their tradition.

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Not just Italians but many other cultures use the same pinched finger gesture to make a point, for example, one blogger mentions that this is an expression used for “just about everything”, and in Israel, it means “Wait a minute.” “Hurry up!” “Relax!”

Finally, Italians have a voice... or a hand gesture... anyway, Italians around the world stand tall. #Italia #Emoji2020 pic.twitter.com/clV7vwgPAr

— Giulio Ranieri (@Giulio_Consult) January 30, 2020

More people took to their Twitter account to share what the ‘pinched finger emoji’ means in their culture;

 

In Israel, you generally use this gesture when you're annoyed or angry with someone - it means "hold your horses," "just a minute", "be patient" or even "wtf?" Apparently, not everyone uses it this way. I'm guessing this new emoji is going to be confusing. https://t.co/7Ngje3Rd5V

— Kim Zetter (@KimZetter) January 29, 2020

Finally, we have an emoji which represents "Please wait", thanks to Iraqis body language.#Emoji2020 pic.twitter.com/eHHRqNLWoK

— مسیح صدری (هدفون سابق) (@Hisamios) February 1, 2020

“I MANDU YOU”
- Kwon Yuri 😍

MANDU HEART 💕 pic.twitter.com/gFs7lggOUY

— sᴏsʜɪᴜ ♡ (@SoshIU_) January 30, 2020

Popular food chain Subway was instantly on board by using the pinched finger emoji;

 

Us from now on ordering the Spicy Italian #Emoji2020 #SpicyItalian pic.twitter.com/xkw8SJHr6J

— Subway® (@SUBWAY) January 30, 2020

The proposal was accepted and therefore we will soon be seeing this emoji in 2020.