I was at a conference, talking to a millennial, and she said when she had her first job, her boss asked her to attend a meeting and then send him a memo summarizing what happened. She had no idea what a memo was. She said, "Is that a more formal email?"

I suppose she's right.

I don't know what an emoji is, so it must be a generational thing.

(BTW, what IS an emoji?) Sounds like something on a Japanese restaurant menu

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She said, "Is that a more formal email?"

She's not far wrong these days. I recall that we used to have special stationery for memos in the days of typewriters and kept them as a template in Word. Their use had pretty well died out though, being replaced by emails.

(BTW, what IS an emoji?)

From Japanese 絵文字 emoji 'picture letter, picture character'. 絵 e also occurs in another Japanese loan to English 浮世絵 ukiyo-e 'pictures of the floating world'. Japanese woodblock and paintings from the 17th through the 19th century. They were influential on European painters like Van Gogh.

Geoff, here are some images of emoji.

We don't have a lot of Japanese loan words, do we?

Just a skosh.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

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Originally posted by zmježd:
(BTW, what IS an emoji?)

From Japanese 絵文字 emoji 'picture letter, picture character'. 絵 e also occurs in another Japanese loan to English 浮世絵 ukiyo-e 'pictures of the floating world'. Japanese woodblock and paintings from the 17th through the 19th century. They were influential on European painters like Van Gogh.

OK, so what's the difference between an emoji and a Japanese letter? Aren't they pictographic themselves?

Skosh is an interesting word. Quinion writes about it here, and he mentions a few more Japanese loanwords too. He says skosh is chiefly American and considered slang.

Interestingly, it first appeared in American writing in 1951 when servicemen brought it back about the time of the Korean War. Yet - it appeared in L Frank Baum's Princess of Oz in 1917. Quinion says that could be a coincidence.

Further investigating the word in the OED, I don't find anything more. In fact, Quinion seems to know more about it. The OED doesn't mention the Baum citation, and it says the word was first written in American Speech in 1955.

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Aren't they pictographic themselves?

No. The Japanese use kanji, which are adapted Chinese characters and kana, which stand for syllables.

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The OED doesn't mention the Baum citation

Judging by the context of the Baum citation, it's the name of some creature he'd invented, rather than the Japanese-origin word. As Quinion says, 'Just a coincidence, I think.' The OED probably thought so too.

Yes, maybe. And Quinion did say that he thought it a coincidence, though I don't think he was entirely convinced. He did have an earlier citation than the OED had, as well.