![The Semiotics of Emoji, by Marcel Danesi.](/web/20170130062707im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/n/0/i/g/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gtn0zu.png/1483670794009.jpg)
The Semiotics of Emoji
Marcel Danesi
Bloomsbury Academic, $27.99
Imagine an emoji with raised eyebrows and rolling eyes. This is my response to Marcel Danesi's speculation that a new "blended writing" system using emojis could lead to the demise of the print age and the foundations of a new global civilisation based on a common visual language. Now imagine a smiling emoji nodding in agreement with  Danesi's concession that the emoji phenomenon may just be a passing fad. But what do I know? I never thought Australians would get on the bottled-water bandwagon or that we'd find ourselves saying "Have a nice day". While it is his job to take this Manga-derived pop language seriously, Danesi maintains a healthy level of scepticism about the applications and future of the emoji, especially when it comes to "translations" of classics such as Moby-Dick and Alice in Wonderland into this cutesy pictorial code.Â