man facepalming: medium skin tone
Unicode: 1F926 1F3FD 200D 2642 FE0F
Description
A man shrugging, with light brown skin, wearing a blue shirt. His arms are bent at the elbows, hands open and shoulders raised, indicating indifference, confusion, or a lack of knowledge.
Group:
People & Body > person-gesture
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Indifference, confusion, 'I don't know', 'what can I do?', 'it is what it is'.
Backstory
The 'Man Shrugging' emoji was introduced in Unicode 9.0 (2016) as part of a larger set of professional and gendered emojis. The 'Shrug' gesture itself is ancient and universal, representing uncertainty or powerlessness. The addition of distinct skin tones allows for more personal representation.
Usage Examples
- When you don't know an answer: 'What time is the meeting? 🤷🏽♂️'
- Expressing helplessness: 'My internet keeps disconnecting, 🤷🏽♂️'
- Indifference: 'He said he'd call, but 🤷🏽♂️'
- Acknowledging an unchangeable situation: 'Well, it is what it is 🤷🏽♂️'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Widely understood as 'I don't know' or 'who cares?', often used to express a lack of solution or a shrug effect in text.
East Asian culture:
Similar meaning of 'I don't know' or helplessness, but perhaps less frequently used in casual conversation compared to Western contexts, where it can be seen as a bit more informal.