The most misunderstood emoji of 2024 (axios.com)

I never had a clue what the upside-down smiley was interpreted as before I read this. There's a mystery solved!

I've never seen the nail polish emoji used in communications, but if I did, I wouldn't have remotely been able to guess what it meant.

By this logic, the most misunderstood English word is "set". Words have multiple definitions; why can't emojis? The "dash / fart / smoking" emoji is a good example: I think it's pretty clear that if someone says "break time =3" they're more likely to be talking about smoking than farting. The question is whether they're misunderstood by the reader.

3 of the upside down english interpretations seem the same to me (sarcasm, smiling through the pain, passive agressive)

The “sleepy” emoji - bubble coming out of nose - is from the original Japanese set, IIRC. I do wonder what it was luck to spring that emoji on the rest of the world without warning, and how we got to “sickness” instead of “sleepiness”.