Accidental Emoji Expert: Tom Scott at An Evening of Unnecessary Detail

On stage at An Evening of Unnecessary Detail - aeoud.com - I tell a dramatised and extremely shortened history of emoji, run through what's coming up in 2016, and have a look at what might be coming up for them soon. Also, I use the word "dysentry".
Thanks to the Festival of the Spoken Nerd team for inviting me, and to the lovely audience and crew at the Backyard Comedy Club in Bethnal Green! And thanks to Matt Parker for the introduction: you can see him at / standupmaths
🟥 MORE FROM TOM: www.tomscott.com/
(you can find contact details and social links there too)
📰 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER with good stuff from the rest of the internet: www.tomscott.com/newsletter/
❓ LATERAL, free weekly podcast: lateralcast.com/ / lateralcast
➕ TOM SCOTT PLUS: / tomscottplus
👥 THE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: / techdif
And hey! You can hire me to speak at your conference! tomscott.com/contact/
With thanks to Emojipedia, who allow reuse of the mockup image from this page: blog.emojipedia.org/unicode-9-...

[@turbo1431]

The deadpan delivery of "Japan what are those?" Gets me every time

[@UhOhTheStoveIsOn]

Same energy as “where’s the door” from drake and josh

[@JACKHARRINGTON]

*3:54*

[@spaghettipersonhello]

@Jack Harrington 4:02

[@kathrinehmunk]

It reminds me of James Veitch

[@crazyrobots6565]

@@spaghettipersonhello no, I agree that you need some lead up. Definitely 3:54.

[@oliverhilton6086]

"Japan, what are those?" That question is asked a lot

[@yevgeniygorbachev5152]

Hentai until proven otherwise. Actually, Hentai regardless.

[@maruftim]

They are living in the same world as Australia

[@yevgeniygorbachev5152]

@Tristan Basri Wow, this is old. Regardless, r/whooosh.

[@godassasin8097]

Stuff just flashed before my eyes

[@Xeroph-5]

Ooh, nononono

[@TomScottGo]

I'm talking very quickly, and my microphone isn't perfect, so if you're having trouble hearing it, do turn on the subtitles! (It took me long enough to type them all...)

[@emmabelignazingwhate5150]

thank you so much! your efforts don't go unnoticed (:

[@joychapman9228]

Thank you

[@papaboot8076]

Thanks alot That was very helpful and the talk was awesome Good work like always

[@user-om9jl5jv5y]

you are too kind

[@sys_tem_]

Thank you!! Couldn't understand a word without them!!

[@maxximumb]

I wonder if we can campaign to get a Tom Scott, red t-shirt emoji included in the 2017 emojis?

[@TomScottGo]

+Maxx B I'm basically the "runner" emoji on iOS. 🏃

[@maxximumb]

+Tom Scott I want to see a plain red t-shirt. So it can be added to the list of weird things the Internet achieved.

[@AdrianMoisey]

+Tom Scott 🏃💨

[@karlkastor]

+Maxx B no, we need a tshirt modifier

[@SeanLynchiscool]

+Karl Kastor no a shirt motifer, pick any clothes for any emojjio

[@evilcam]

I love Matt's bit at the end. You really did do a youtube edit break when the glass dropped. You do it without thinking, which makes you among the most professional youtubers in the world.

[@insu_na]

I laughed first when I heard it at 8:24 and then again when Matt joked about it :D

[@Onimirare]

Dude, you never talked to anyone when some random noise interrupts you and you restart your sentence again? Or you just go like "no, i'm not repeating, I don't care that you couldn't hear me"

[@gemavaliente7675]

@@Onimirare take a chill pill mate, its not that deep

[@simongreve]

8:25 is the time of the glass being dropped if anyone is looking for it after the outtro :)

[@LynxSnowCat]

9:46 for the second time it was dropped.

[@TomusMedia]

+simongreve that Matt Parker bit at the end was comedic genius

[@joopie99aa]

+simongreve That's amazing! :)

[@olligobber]

+

[@leandrolevant]

Thanks!

[@rosecityattwilight]

I love tech-comedy. Wish there was more of it out there.

[@datenegassie]

You missed the most important question... Where is the levitating man in a business suit?

[@nyan0812nerd]

🕴🕴🕴🕴🕴🕴🕴🕴🕴🕴🕴🕴🕴🕴🕴🕴

[@sump9306]

🖕🏻

[@CASTCorp]

It is in the activities section

[@stensoft]

Here: 🕴

[@farshnuke]

+TedCruzForPresident Thisv comment sums up why I hate the internet. Well done. pointess mean bullshit.

[@alexhannah8889]

I love whenever Tom does speeches, they are always so good.

[@tiltedtesseract8210]

3:55 "Whoa, Japan- Okay, that's fine, we'll put all these over... *NGH!* O-kay, right, that's fine, we're gonna, gonna put them in the standard just i- ō_ō ...Japan, what are those?"

[@tiltedtesseract8210]

+HyphenSam "Those aren't letters..."

[@tiltedtesseract8210]

+HyphenSam i see that :I

[@gigglysamentz2021]

+drew b. Thank yooou ! I couldn't hear it so I looked in the comments ^^

[@alexandermcclure6185]

They're 🕴.

[@1_GigaWaffle]

Japan, what are those?(c) Just priceless XD

[@Knight_Astolfo]

+I am a cat? Quick, call a scientist, this cat's got amnesia! 4:02

[@Reitenshii]

+I am a cat? huh?

[@sirrobertwalpole913]

+Derpy Hooves typical Japan, doing all manner of strange things.

[@sirrobertwalpole913]

***** ??? Not sure this counts as clickbait.

[@aliciaclarke4693]

The last point he made is actual pretty interesting... I guess there have to be quite a few genius people who will feel kinda stupid when they see about what parts of their work the media will inform the people

[@lukethekuya]

Yep. It is sad...not everyone will really appreciate what other people give out and work hard so much for mankind...😢

[@HayleyJeffs]

11:04 where Matt talked about Tom's autoediting KZbin style made me laugh so hard! 8:23 for the bit he is referencing.

[@ChargePositive]

+Hayley Jeffs Thanks I was trying to find that

[@theredpanda3729]

It took me over 5 years to find this comedic masterpiece, I definitely exhaled at multiple of the red shirt man's jokes.

[@SergeofBIBEK]

Matt Parker and Tom Scott make for some awesome KZbin content.

[@katedoes...9783]

Search for Let's Play: Bar Billards

[@violetnhz]

+David Lam -flamingsword1 well Matt is kinda already a stand up comedian

[@standupmaths]

+Kate Does ... That was a while back! Loads of fun to film.

[@standupmaths]

+David Lam -flamingsword1 I'll keep that in mind.

[@NeatNit]

8:24 is the bit Matt talked about right at the end :D

[@orley6379]

Tom doesn't like shtick? Well he's in a.. SHTICKY SITUATION!

[@OfficialMexicanNinja]

get out.

[@cxmer7n]

orley leave life pls

[@LeonNFG]

orley automatically read that in a Connery voice

[@gordier6787]

0:05 “That guy from the internet who has an off red shirt” Grian?

[@muncherofpizza]

Grian.

[@cyber_dragon_123]

Too young.

[@gordier6787]

cyber_dragon_123 What

[@NimoClancy]

tom scott is to knowledge what grian is to building

[@renderproductions1032]

Who’s that graaaaaain character?

[@dankengine8302]

TOM SCOTT HAS CHANGED HIS PROFILE PIC, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, TOM SCOTT *HAS CHANGED HIS PROFILE PIC*! * Applause *

[@aimeemcdonald1581]

& nb people

[@dark0films]

That edit break though when the glass was knocked over, even your hands movements.

[@rangerecho]

"That guy from the internet" is the most accurate job description Tom can get

[@JamieThelin]

I love it when I see two of my favorite subscriptions in the same video

[@standupmaths]

I'll have to get Tom to introduce one of my videos next.

[@sznio]

+standupmaths Is there somewhere where I can find all the talks from this?

[@sophiew757]

love the "ready-made viral explosion of poo, which i guess is (insert disease)" phrase that came in both vids about this...

[@MattNav]

Japan what are those ? Made me crack such a laugh

[@if3660]

WHAT ARE THOSE! I hate myself.

[@fredericapanon207]

Stupid? No. Frustrated? Definitely!

[@ethanedgington3561]

Tom Scott is that one friend everybody has that knows way too much about random things you didn’t know you cared about

[@RedDeadSakharine]

I'd love to see a continuation of this talk from a 2020 point of view!

[@erikakerberg1104]

Damn I wish I could present like that

[@stensoft]

Sadly, condom emoji probably won't make it in 2017 as Unicode wants to create a whole safe-sex category for emojis. But this fortune cookie should be added: 🥠 (you won't see it until 2017 though)

[@mensrightsedinburgh4764]

+Barney Laurance do you want to work out the global legal implications of making "two men doggy style" a symbol in the text encoding standard? will Microsoft Word need to be 18+ all of a sudden?

[@HanabiraKage]

+Jan Sten Adámek Seems to me that condoms should most definitely be included if it's safe-sex. ^^

[@DerToaster97]

still can't see it..

[@mattomanx77]

Still can't see it. 2017 is almost over.

[@Sky-._]

No go on that cookie.

[@jessicawang6558]

For a second I thought I clicked on the wrong channel (numberphile) lol

[@standupmaths]

Surprise!

[@robinw77]

+standupmaths I like this Kinda Surprise (double joke, right there)

[@robinw77]

Elia Meyer Yes :-( I have to live with this every day though! :-)

[@Wheeze_NL]

Edit-Break, awesome! Will smile for a while now, thank you!

[@ANigerianPrince]

8:23 is when he stops for the edit.

[@linkVIII]

time stamp for the glass thing or was that actually edited out?

[@homosapienssapiens19]

About 8:24

[@linkVIII]

+homosapienssapiens19 cool

[@TheNovanoid]

For anyone wondering: 8:22

[@-minushyphen1two379]

Also 9:25

[@SentinalKnight]

Did Matt Parker have a segment too?? Will it be on his channel soon??

[@HarryJeffery]

+sri charan Yes, he hosted the show and did a bit on "homonymetrics".

[@SentinalKnight]

+Harry Jeffery cool.... Hope it will up on his channel soon.... Fingers crossed....

[@standupmaths]

Yes, I did a few bits but did not film them. I have weekly videos on my channel though, so that should keep you going.

[@SentinalKnight]

+standupmaths cool ;)

[@puhpuh3037]

"That Internet Guy" is the perfect description of Tom Scott.

[@darrenr49]

Really enjoyable to watch Tom! thank for recording these!

[@TheBassHeavy]

You are a brilliant speaker, Tom.

[@wilsonouseph1347]

This guy is one of my favourite KZbinrs. I found him somehow back when he had 250 000 subs and watched a few videos. Then I watched his entire 'things you might not know' playlist in a single sitting.' Tom Scott is great. Well done mate.

[@eloujtimereaver4504]

I wish I could attend these things. StandUpMaths and Tom Scott are two of my favorite channels.

[@davidbuschhorn6539]

Back in my day we had emoticons and they were good enough for us.

[@tennicktenstyl]

but you didn't have pancake emoticon.

[@the1exnay]

But not all languages are as friendly to emoticons, and who can be bothered to switch languages on their keyboard. No they need emojis to be the universal language

[@mrmimeisfunny]

Please someone make ascii art

[@tennicktenstyl]

mrmimeisfunny ___ |\ | / \ | \ | | | | \| \___/

[@maixck]

Yeah, to the end user emoticons are the same as emojis. I remember messenger emoticons. Way before the iPhone. Being a pc user I was used to emoticons until they where in phones as emojis, so, no real leap there.

[@tamar597]

I was like: 'I could really use a Tom Scott video now.' I click on KZbin and Tom pops up with a upload from two minutes ago. Great timing! Thanks ☺😀

[@Grim_Cyanide]

this was like a mini TedX Talk xD

[@ColHanko]

The “Japan what are those” line makes me laugh even today

[@joe4490]

This is excellent, especially the last 30 seconds. How do you keep making so much awesome stuff!?

[@TheGuyWhoIsSitting]

Don't get me wrong, I'm cool with Emoji existing, but I don't really understand why people need to have x emoji. I can sympathize for skin tone and I guess hair color, but what in the world do we need a pancake emoji for? Surely it takes longer to find an emoji than it does to just type out the word. Oh well, I guess it didn't make sense in Japanese either. 🍙

[@OriginalPiMan]

TheGuyWhoIsSitting I'm on Android, and for at least a few emoji I can type a word and the keyboard will suggest the emoji version of that word. 🐈 🍚 🍆 🌒 for example.

[@DarKnightofCydonia]

On Google Keyboard there's emoji search which makes using them way easier.

[@Liggliluff]

But then you two are typing out the word, and could just pick the word instead of the emoji.

[@andre1dewilbert]

@@Liggliluff which one looks cooler, 🥞 or *pancake*

[@jamesharding3459]

It came out of Japan. That’s all the explanation that we need. They do things…… differently.

[@CBusschaert]

I'm sure someday someone will officialize the creation of an emoji-only language with strict grammar and vocabulary.

[@peter_smyth]

The kind of people who use lots of emoji, and the places they use them (casual conversation, social media) don't care about grammar now, let alone learning a completely new (and arguably pointless) system.

[@CBusschaert]

Peter Smyth nerds exist in all domains.

[@rosiefay7283]

Yes, there'll be an emoji for every word! We've already got an aubergine emoji and a pile of poo emoji we're already a good way there. and even if a word doesn't have an emoji all to itself, we'll work out a way to express it using two emoji together. And so we can write them with ordinary pens we'll invent a way to draw each emoji with a number of strokes. Stupid idea? Well, Chinese has done exactly this for thousands of years.

[@fredericapanon207]

But how would you translate abstract concepts such as existential angst as emoji?!

[@jamesharding3459]

@@rosiefay7283 I still prefer a simple alphabetical system like the Latin or Cyrillic system. Words are words, and that’s that.

[@Brewster227]

Tom, that's been one of your best talks! I loved it so much 😂👌🏻🏃🚶

[@inanjarif1388]

"And there was a ready made viral explosion of piles of poo,which I guess is dysentery" Never change Tom, never change

[@MasreMe]

I have no idea as to when you upload, so seeing the video 12 seconds after it was uploaded is pretty remarkable to me

[@pjuklas]

4min. for me :D

[@Becky_Cooling]

8 years.

[@dananabread6632]

i'd love to see more of your talks, tom!

[@olicarpenter345]

We need more of this.

[@tncorgi92]

And America gets stuck with coverage of the presidential candidates until our colons leap from our bodies and strangle us in protest.

[@firstlast6266]

I love both Tom and Matt Parker. Awesome video

[@standupmaths]

I love your taste.

[@phazing9]

Absolutely amazing!

[@RobertPatrician]

This is one of those videos I file in both my educational and comedy playlists.

[@KaathKilo]

Tom, you are amazing. This is why I watch your videos. You are smart, yet funny. I wish the best for you in the future.

[@danielrees9977]

I think that was one of his best talks yet!

[@flavoredchin]

I love that Tom talking fast immediately makes him hilarious.

[@jimeans2281]

You crack me up. Enjoyed the talk tremendously.

[@Apollys]

Wow Matt Parker and Tom Scott, 2 of my favorite people!

[@Linaker22]

I really enjoyed this, performed like a stand up routine, but educational too, great combo!

[@Slothells]

I feel you explained this much better here than you did in your other video approaching the same topic. Keep up the good work Tom!

[@blancfilms]

How many red T-Shirts do you have in your closet? Honest Answer! :P

[@TheDolphiner]

There is a video on another channel Matt & Tom about this. Check it out :D

[@blancfilms]

Can I ask you for the link?

[@simwir]

+Lázaro Blanc kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmW2oIZ4pMShqas

[@kitkatchunky93]

+Lázaro Blanc kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmW2oIZ4pMShqas

[@Infragelb]

+Lázaro Blanc i think he mentioned it before, he ordered like a twenty pack to fill his wardrobe at university

[@trampledbygeese]

2022 and we might finally be getting a goose emoji.

[@CaptainClueless01]

Oh god me saying "it's you isn't it" got in there... I had no idea it was recorded. loved the talk, Tom!

Why I haven't been there, Matt Parker and Tom Scott in a one place! I really like them both!

[@standupmaths]

We've even filmed some videos together if you search hard enough.

[@MultiSciGeek]

Well done Tom, this was really interesting.

[@paulpickett4522]

Comedy gold and learning stuff in every sentence! I love it!! xD

[@PascalBrax]

that was genuinely brilliant!

[@MidnightSt]

I seriously LOVE your sense of humor, stage presence, all of it. If i ever get to try out doing standup on some open mike night, can I steal your jokes? Thanks :-D

[@EmmaLiza]

Weirdly I was rewatching your last emoji talk before this uploaded. If this is my superpower it seems a bit bizarrely specific.

[@BunnyFett]

I love your presentation form.

[@George_Azeria]

congratulations on your 401k

[@BloodyRainRang]

The Emoji Consortium, well here's a thing I never thought would end up existing. And just like Matt pointed out, that mental editing break was hilarious, although I was surprised when he said he didn't even notice doing it xD

[@hawaiimaui123]

I'd love to know what model potato you used to record the audio!

[@dudds6699]

looks like a russet type

[@sznio]

+dudds6699 sounds* like

[@JaxMerrick]

Yukon Gold. I'd recognise that sound profile anywhere.

[@thewolfin]

Some person's phone in the crowd

[@mcb187]

Matt and Tom in the same video? AWESOME!!

[@MrHat.]

Look up the YT channel 'Matt and Tom'

[@OrchidAlloy]

It's great that my two favorite youtube smart guys appear in the same video!

[@standupmaths]

One video could barely contain us both.

[@OrchidAlloy]

standupmaths I bet KZbin would explode if you two were to be on screen at the same time for more than a couple seconds.

[@SageSock]

Emojis show actions, things, concepts. Having more is probably better, but some would say that placing more emphasis on appearance could remove focus from the actions people do.

[@musaran2]

This. It really surprised me that they would include skin color, this is really far-fetched for what started as sorting writings. Sticking with neutral should have sufficed. And looking at the emoji tables, so many seem so... anecdotal, casual, hype-of-the-moment to me, except now they are set in stone.

[@markl2065]

“Hire tom scott to speak at your conference” ah yes my conference

[@NiraExecuto]

I lol'd at the end. Literally. Real literally, not fake literally. I legitimately laughed at the condom emoji part.

[@blackblather]

Really well done Tom. You are really smart and know how to captivate people and put on a great, enjoyable show, where you can actually learn something. Here's an emoji for you: ;)

[@kroneyt1493]

I bet Tom Scott cried the day The Emoji Movie was announced.

[@beeflon]

Fantastic 👏

[@alsanova]

BRILLIANT!! Made me LOL at some parts 😄😂😄😆

[@macoud12]

Tom, you are comedy gold!

[@mitigatekeeps1371]

Matt Parker! Never thought I'd see such a crossover!

[@standupmaths]

What is this, a cross-over episode‽

[@abanaszewski985]

youre so good at presenting!!

[@HW-ct1iq]

Tom Scott, I fucking love you. This was fantastic.

[@leehmantylerdrew]

This guy is brilliant!

[@benjaminfraeyman]

its now 2017 and guess what, we even got an emoji movie

[@entitledOne]

"Japan, what are those?" is quite a common question.

[@matthewcrabtree]

The demand for more emojis will drive the production of an emoji lexicon the size of other human languages. The combinatorial power of the skin tone modifier can be applied to any combination of unicode symbols, and reminds me of how radicals work in chinese and japanese -- you combine them into a single character that takes on a new meaning; this, I imagine, will possibly be how this new emoji language evolves and is coded. Picture this: if you have an "emoji modifier" unicode symbol that is added to the unicode symbol for any japanese kanji, you suddenly have a placeholder for >75,000 new emoji, and only needed to create one new unicode symbol.

[@ChuenLocke]

Tom is now the dude who introduces places

[@zJoriz]

Tom sure is a great speaker. He can make everything sound interesting. Even if it's blasted emoji.

[@GibusWearingMann]

That cowboy emoji turned out to be crucial in hindsight.

[@diarykeeper]

Ya, the emoji keyboard. Lovely stuff.

[@iamise]

well done, *applaudes*

[@404Anymouse]

This is soo cool

[@jaredfocose2048]

Funny running into you, Matt Parker! Get back over to Numberphile or StandUpMaths!!!! ;)

[@007bistromath]

Man, imagine if they just broke down and added an extension character that somehow feeds in a user-supplied hex code for color.

[@demos113]

Bloody good! :)

[@skyew.3939]

THE UNICODE CONSORTIUM- coming to cinemas soon