Cherries, apple, lemon?
A child safety expert has revealed the possible second meanings behind those seemingly innocent emojis your children are using — and moms and dads might be shocked by what they really infer.
“Fruit emojis have various meanings, some a little more lewd than others,” said Aneeca Younas of FindMyKids, a parental control and GPS tracking app, reported the Daily Mail.
“In a fast-paced world where quick messages demand swift responses, emojis seamlessly fit in, eliminating the need for lengthy texts,” but deciphering them can be “tricky” for parents, she said..
“Fruits have various innuendos in messages.”
Of course, the banana and eggplant emojis are commonly used to represent — clutch your pearls – a penis because of their phalic shape, while the peach emoji is also often used to depict a butt or female genitalia.
But there are plenty of other fruits that young ones have given second meanings.
For example, the seemingly sweet, vibrant but innocuous cherries emoji could mean testicles or be a reference to virginity, with “popping the cherry” being a term for a woman losing her virginity.
Grapes have also been crassly co-opted to represent male genitalia, though sometimes it’s simply a more straightforward reference to alcohol. (Insert sigh of relief emoji here.)
Meanwhile, the strawberry emoji is used to signify that someone is in a flirty or romantic mood.
Pineapples are often used to let others know that you’re in a “complicated” relationship or a swinger — when flipped upside down. Just ask any cruise-ship worker who has encountered them on cabin doors.
A sour lemon usually symbolizes — appropriately enough — sourness, bitterness, or a sense of negativity, while a juicy, red tomato can be used to show disapproval, like how people would throw them at people in protest.
But perhaps the most puzzling of the seemingly innocent emojis is the apple, which has been adopted by those in the “manosphere” to identify lowly “incels,” a term that shortens and combines the words “involuntary celibate.”
Now, good luck keeping up with the flurry of new interpretations.
“It’s like just when you think you’ve got the hang of what your kids are texting, the meanings of these emojis keep changing,” Younas said.
“With new emojis popping up all the time, it’s a bit of a puzzle, and, well, the hidden meanings behind those fruit symbols seem to switch around a lot.”