Latest news with #NoëlWolf
Gulf Today
4 days ago
- General
- Gulf Today
‘Sorry' is one word, why are we so bad at apologising?
Olivia Petter, The Independent Saying 'sorry' is easy. It's just one word, two syllables. You can say it faster than you can sneeze. Meaning it, however, is a lot harder. According to research commissioned by the language-learning platform Babbel, Britons have 15 uses for the word, with just one of them meaning regret. So seemingly sorry are we all the time that we don't even know what it means any more. Here are some of the ways we're using 'sorry' incorrectly: to ask someone to move out of the way. To ask someone to repeat themselves. To show empathy. To express disbelief. To disagree. To mock. And, if we're British, to preface literally any sentence ever. 'In British English, 'sorry' has evolved beyond its original role as an expression of remorse,' explains Noël Wolf, cultural and linguistic expert at Babbel, whose research also found that we use the word 'sorry' an average of nine times a day. 'It now serves as a social lubricant and a flexible tool of communication used in all sorts of everyday interactions.' It also reflects our nationwide desire to avoid conflict by way of old-fashioned, sturdy politeness. We keep calm and carry on, as is the British way. 'In a culture where directness can feel impolite, and personal space, both emotional and physical, is protected, 'sorry' can smooth over moments of friction, no matter how minor,' says Wolf. The problem with such an overuse of the word is that it has become diluted beyond recognition, and now we're unsure how to apologise properly for something that actually warrants remorse. How can any of us truly be sorry if we don't know how to say it? If we're saying it too much, does the word even mean anything any more? And why do so many of us resort to insipid platitudes when apologising? Few sentences are more grating to hear than 'Sorry if I upset you...' These are some of the questions asked by Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy in their book Getting to Sorry: The Art of Apology at Work and at Home, which examines the reasons why we might be wired to apologise badly, in both our professional and our personal lives, and why it's holding us back from having meaningful relationships with others – and with ourselves. A central tenet of their argument relates to the rise of celebrity apologies: public statements made via social media, or representatives, that are designed to enshrine the celebrity's reputation by minimising bad behaviour. Or occasionally denying it altogether. We've seen this play out countless times in the public eye, with everyone from Drew Barrymore and Lena Dunham to Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis issuing statements to address allegations against them. Not to mention Britain's endless list of terribly sorry politicians. Often, the apologies are long-winded, PR-executed masterpieces. Occasionally, they're laughably weak and serve as the jumping-off point for an entirely new genre of meme; there are, in fact, several lists compiling the 'worst celebrity apologies'. 'They tend to centre the person apologising rather than the people receiving the apology,' says Ingall. 'Rarely do they say exactly what they're apologising for, making them sound fake and like clear attempts to squirm out of trouble rather than a legitimate attempt to make amends.' The result, Ingall posits, is that they set a precedent for apologising badly; for finding every excuse possible to shift the blame and avoid taking accountability, in a bid to protect our reputation – as if we, too, have a globally recognised public image to consider. 'This is because our brains are designed to protect us, to help us see ourselves as the hero of our own story,' explains Ingall. 'If we didn't think we were decent people, it would be hard to get through the day. This means that when we're faced with the cognitive dissonance of 'I'm a good person but I did a bad thing', we tend to fix that uncomfortable dissonance by telling ourselves what we did wasn't really that awful, that we don't really have to apologise, and that the other person always overreacts.'
Scotsman
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Ten emojis used differently between generations, and what they mean to Gen Z
The 💀 emoji may be more amused than menacing, depending on who sent it Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Studies suggest people's interpretation of emojis can vary based on age, gender, culture and more But there appear to be a big generation gap, with Gen Z having their own emoji-based slang A language expert says older users tend to take the pictures at face-value But their alternate meanings are often a little more ironic Once a simple and playful way to add some feeling to online messages – emojis have evolved into something resembling a language all of their own. Thursday (July 17) is World Emoji Day. But far from being universally understood, language experts say the colourful icons that punctuate our texts and chats can mean very different things to different people. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A 2024 University of Nottingham study found that age, gender, and culture all impacted what people understood emojis to mean. It was even a plot point in this year's Netflix smash hit series Adolescence, with teens using emojis to communicate with and even bully each other – with adults none the wiser. To mark the occasion, language learning platform Babbel and online emoji reference site Emojipedia have shared some of the most commonly misunderstood emojis between people of different ages. Babbel linguistic and cultural expert Noël Wolf said that while older users tend to take them at face value, younger generations – especially Gen Z – have crafted an often-ironic emoji language, shaped by internet culture, memes, and platform censorship. 'This evolving emoji code isn't just about playfulness – it's strategic,' she said. 'On platforms where moderation is high, emojis offer a way to communicate emotion, sarcasm, or critique without triggering censorship. In that sense, they've become both creative and adaptive tools – helping users navigate social dynamics while retaining a sense of privacy or belonging within their digital communities. Younger users have created their own emoji-based slang, language experts say | (Image: National World/Adobe Stock) 'The result is that the same symbol can signal warmth to one person, indifference to another, and humour to a third - depending not just on age, but on digital fluency and cultural exposure. That's what makes emojis so fascinating - and so easy to misread,' she continued. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Here are the top 10 emojis Babbel says are often used differently across the generations: 1. 💀 Skull Gen Z: Means 'I'm dead' – used to express laughter and amusement. Older Generations: Used literally to reference death or danger. 2. 👍 Thumbs up Gen Z: Seen as passive-aggressive or dismissive; often used ironically. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Older generations: Sincerely used to show approval, agreement, or encouragement. 3. 🙂 Slightly smiling face Gen Z: Seen as passive-aggressive, insincere, or masking discomfort – also often used ironically. Older generations: Used to express friendliness or politeness. 4. 😭 Loudly crying face Gen Z: Used to express laughter or emotional overreaction in a humorous way. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Older generations: Used to convey disappointment or sadness. 5. 👨🦯 Person with white cane Gen Z: Used sarcastically to imply wilful ignorance, such as 'pretending not to see.' Older generations: Rarely used at all, Ms Wolf says, and it's often interpreted as a literal representation of visual impairment or accessibility. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 6. 🗿 Moai Gen Z: Represents emotional detachment or deadpan humour – often used ironically. Older generations: Another one that's rarely used, the linguistics experts says it is often literally interpreted as a statue. 7. 🧍 Person standing Gen Z: Conveys awkwardness, discomfort, or passivity in a situation. Older generations: Yet another less common emoji, Ms Wolf says it tends to be understood literally as a depiction of a standing person. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 8. 🧢 Billed cap Gen Z: Slang symbol for 'cap' , which means to lie, as opposed to 'no cap', which means telling the truth. Older generations: Rarely used, and likely interpreted literally as a hat emoji. 9. 💅 Nail polish Gen Z: Symbolises confidence, sass, indifference, or showing off. Older generations: Used literally to reference beauty, self-care, or even manicure plans. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 10. 🥺 Pleading face Gen Z: Conveys cuteness, vulnerability, or 'simp' behaviour in an exaggerated or performative way. Older generations: Viewed more literally as disappointment or sadness. To learn more about emojis with alternate meanings, including some more sinister ones parents should probably know about, check out this story.
Scotsman
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Ten emojis used differently between generations, and what they mean to Gen Z
The 💀 emoji may be more amused than menacing, depending on who sent it Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Studies suggest people's interpretation of emojis can vary based on age, gender, culture and more But there appear to be a big generation gap, with Gen Z having their own emoji-based slang A language expert says older users tend to take the pictures at face-value But their alternate meanings are often a little more ironic Once a simple and playful way to add some feeling to online messages – emojis have evolved into something resembling a language all of their own. Thursday (July 17) is World Emoji Day. But far from being universally understood, language experts say the colourful icons that punctuate our texts and chats can mean very different things to different people. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A 2024 University of Nottingham study found that age, gender, and culture all impacted what people understood emojis to mean. It was even a plot point in this year's Netflix smash hit series Adolescence, with teens using emojis to communicate with and even bully each other – with adults none the wiser. To mark the occasion, language learning platform Babbel and online emoji reference site Emojipedia have shared some of the most commonly misunderstood emojis between people of different ages. Babbel linguistic and cultural expert Noël Wolf said that while older users tend to take them at face value, younger generations – especially Gen Z – have crafted an often-ironic emoji language, shaped by internet culture, memes, and platform censorship. 'This evolving emoji code isn't just about playfulness – it's strategic,' she said. 'On platforms where moderation is high, emojis offer a way to communicate emotion, sarcasm, or critique without triggering censorship. In that sense, they've become both creative and adaptive tools – helping users navigate social dynamics while retaining a sense of privacy or belonging within their digital communities. Younger users have created their own emoji-based slang, language experts say | (Image: National World/Adobe Stock) 'The result is that the same symbol can signal warmth to one person, indifference to another, and humour to a third - depending not just on age, but on digital fluency and cultural exposure. That's what makes emojis so fascinating - and so easy to misread,' she continued. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Here are the top 10 emojis Babbel says are often used differently across the generations: 1. 💀 Skull Gen Z: Means 'I'm dead' – used to express laughter and amusement. Older Generations: Used literally to reference death or danger. 2. 👍 Thumbs up Gen Z: Seen as passive-aggressive or dismissive; often used ironically. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Older generations: Sincerely used to show approval, agreement, or encouragement. 3. 🙂 Slightly smiling face Gen Z: Seen as passive-aggressive, insincere, or masking discomfort – also often used ironically. Older generations: Used to express friendliness or politeness. 4. 😭 Loudly crying face Gen Z: Used to express laughter or emotional overreaction in a humorous way. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Older generations: Used to convey disappointment or sadness. 5. 👨🦯 Person with white cane Gen Z: Used sarcastically to imply wilful ignorance, such as 'pretending not to see.' Older generations: Rarely used at all, Ms Wolf says, and it's often interpreted as a literal representation of visual impairment or accessibility. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 6. 🗿 Moai Gen Z: Represents emotional detachment or deadpan humour – often used ironically. Older generations: Another one that's rarely used, the linguistics experts says it is often literally interpreted as a statue. 7. 🧍 Person standing Gen Z: Conveys awkwardness, discomfort, or passivity in a situation. Older generations: Yet another less common emoji, Ms Wolf says it tends to be understood literally as a depiction of a standing person. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 8. 🧢 Billed cap Gen Z: Slang symbol for 'cap' , which means to lie, as opposed to 'no cap', which means telling the truth. Older generations: Rarely used, and likely interpreted literally as a hat emoji. 9. 💅 Nail polish Gen Z: Symbolises confidence, sass, indifference, or showing off. Older generations: Used literally to reference beauty, self-care, or even manicure plans. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 10. 🥺 Pleading face Gen Z: Conveys cuteness, vulnerability, or 'simp' behaviour in an exaggerated or performative way. Older generations: Viewed more literally as disappointment or sadness.
Telegraph
27-06-2025
- General
- Telegraph
How using a full stop could give away your age
Using a full stop in texts could be giving away your age, an expert has suggested. Noël Wolf, a linguistic expert, said young people – aged from 13 to 28 – were rewriting the rules to 'shift' the meaning of inverted commas, quotation marks, ellipses, full stops and the dash. Using a full stop could actually be conveying a blunt tone, which Generation Z avoida, she told The Telegraph. Traditional usage of various punctuation marks has now been upended, with quotation marks used to imply irony or sarcasm rather than speech and full stops used to convey passive-aggressive bluntness instead of the neutral sentence ender. Meanwhile, ellipses are used to suggest awkwardness or hesitation and commas and dashes repurposed to signal emphasis and to mimic spoken language rather than a pause in the sentence. Ms Wolf cited writers' varying approaches to punctuation use, such as James Joyce and Cormac McCarthy, and their minimal use of punctuation to 'set a particular tone'. 'It's only natural, then, for contemporary writers to embrace this evolving function of punctuation and use it to convey more than just a pause or breath in a sentence,' she added. The language expert also pushed back on the idea that these practices are eroding grammar, instead arguing that it can be more 'emotionally precise'. It comes after it was revealed the semicolon could be dying out after its use has more than halved in two decades, according to language app Babbel. Young people who do not know how to use semicolons were shown as being behind the decline. Ms Wolf added that Gen Z is one of the 'main forces behind this shift in punctuation use' after they 'mainstreamed' new meanings on social media, but claimed it does not signal grammar is 'being destroyed'. She explained that having grown up largely on digital platforms, young people need to use punctuation 'as a way to convey the intended tone of a written short-form message when the tone may not be obvious'. 'Social media is, without question, the main driver behind this evolution,' Ms Wolf continued. 'Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, X and messaging apps have shaped a kind of informal digital writing style that prioritises tone, brevity, and relatability. 'In these spaces, punctuation becomes a crucial stand-in for the cues we'd normally get from tone of voice or facial expression.' She said: 'Grammar isn't being destroyed; it's being stretched to fit new modes of communication. For example, using quotation marks for sarcasm and ellipses for uncertainty 'mirrors real speech more closely' and marks an 'intuitive adaptation to digital life'. Ms Wolf added: 'What might be considered 'wrong' by traditional grammar standards can actually be emotionally precise.'
Daily Mail
27-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Secret meanings behind how Gen Z use punctuation: Dashes, full stops and commas now stand for something totally different - so, do YOU understand the new code?
Everyday punctuation marks from the simple full stop to the quotation mark now mean something totally different as Gen Z adapt them to form new meanings, experts have revealed. Recently it was revealed that the semicolon is at risk of dying out because its use is plummeting, and now younger generations are re-purposing the punctuation marks that endure so that they no longer mean what they used to. For instance, teenagers are more likely to use a full stop as a blunt gesture, rather than to simply signify the end of a sentence. Noël Wolf, a linguistic expert at Babbel, told MailOnline: 'We're seeing a real shift in how punctuation is being used in everyday communication, particularly among younger generations. 'Inverted commas, or quotation marks, have traditionally served a clear grammatical purpose: indicating direct speech or quoting another source. 'But in contemporary digital communication, especially on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and X, they're being repurposed.' It's also reflected in work by contemporary writers such as Sally Rooney who have done away with quotation marks in their novels, so that when you do see them, they're not there to indicate direct speech. Gen Z's take on punctuation... Quotation mark - Signals irony, sarcasm or emotional distance Dash - Used for emphasis, interjections or sudden tonal shifts Comma - Implemented to mimic speech patterns or pacing Exclamation mark - Used to add a friendly touch Full stop - Signals bluntness or finality Ellipses - Conveys hesitation, awkwardness or emotional nuance Source - Noël Wolf, linguistic and cultural expert at Babbel 'Gen Z is now frequently using quotation marks to signal irony, sarcasm or emotional distance - for example, writing I'm "fine" to imply the opposite of fine,' he explained. 'It's become a kind of punctuation-based body language.' While people might be quick to assume that Gen Z are loosening society's grip on grammatical conventions, Noel argued the opposite. 'This isn't about grammar falling apart, but a creative adaptation of it. Punctuation is still valued, but its function is evolving. 'In an age where much communication happens via short-form text; such as messages, comments and captions, younger generations are using punctuation to convey tone, nuance and intent in the absence of voice or facial cues.' The expert explained that the adaptations have come into place as a consequence of the internet. He said, 'The internet, of course, is a driving force, with informal digital spaces encouraging experimentation. What might once have been seen as 'incorrect' punctuation is now part of a new, expressive way of interacting online. 'This doesn't mean rules are vanishing, they're just shifting. Interestingly, many young people still appreciate the power of punctuation when clarity matters; for example, in academic writing or professional contexts. So, rather than seeing punctuation as dying out, we should see it as diversifying. 'Its role in helping us communicate clearly, emotionally and effectively is arguably more important than ever, as we are constantly navigating multiple modes of communication, from texts and tweets to emails and essays.' The expert explained that it's not just quotation marks undergoing a change in meaning, but also exclamation marks and ellipses. 'Other punctuation marks are undergoing similar shifts,' he said, adding, 'Full stops, once essential for sentence clarity, are increasingly interpreted in messaging contexts as signalling bluntness or finality. 'A simple reply like 'Okay.' can be read as passive-aggressive or cold, depending on the social context, which is a sharp contrast to the more friendly 'Okay!' 'Linguistically, this shows how punctuation is now carrying emotional and social meaning, not just serving a grammatical function. 'Ellipses (...), once used to indicate omitted text or a trailing thought, now often convey hesitation, awkwardness or emotional nuance, for example, 'I guess… we'll see.' Wolf explained that even basic forms of grammar, such as the comma, are also developing to have different meanings. He said, 'Even the humble comma is being manipulated to mimic speech patterns or pacing. 'For example, 'So, um, that happened,' the comma creates rhythm and mimics the cadence of spoken language.' Elsewhere, Gen Z are embracing dashes and maximising their use, according to the expert. He said, 'Meanwhile, dashes (-) are thriving as versatile punctuation for emphasis, interjections or sudden tonal shifts: 'She said she was 'fine' - and then blocked me.' 'Their growing popularity may even be influenced by tools like ChatGPT, which frequently rely on em dashes to signal tone shifts, pauses or emphasis in text.' Wolf concluded, 'What we're witnessing is a form of punctuational code-switching. In formal contexts, most people, including Gen Z, revert to conventional usage. But in digital spaces, punctuation becomes part of a rich, multimodal communicative system. 'Tone, intent and identity are all being conveyed through tiny textual signals. The rise of informal, digital-first writing styles has certainly influenced this shift. 'On platforms like X, where brevity is key or in WhatsApp chats, punctuation often carries emotional weight as much as syntactic structure. 'In this sense, we're seeing the emergence of a functional punctuation dialect - one that's intuitive, adaptive and highly expressive. 'So, far from fading into obsolescence, punctuation is thriving, just in new and sometimes unexpected ways. As always, language adapts to fit the needs of its users.' Meanwhile, Gen Z are also changing the way they use the emojji. In an attempt to confuse the older generations, Gen Z are ditching 'mainstream' emoji in favour of bizarre alternatives. 'For the predominantly younger-skewing 'chronically online,' riding the wave of emerging trends helps forge identity and create distance from the 'out-of-touch' older generations,' explained Emojipedia. 'In a culture shaped by brainrot, post-irony, and existential dread, avoiding the mainstream is a badge of honor. 'Creating underground memes and micro-viral moments that distinguish an in-the-know in-group from outsiders can be mini-milestones in establishing a generation's internet identity, leaving others on the outside feeling confused and out of the loop, often intentionally so.'
