man facepalming: dark skin tone
Unicode: 1F926 1F3FF 200D 2642 FE0F
Description
A person with one hand on their face, indicating exasperation or frustration, with dark skin tone, gender specified as male. Sometimes interpreted as 'facepalm' or 'disbelief'.
Group:
People & Body > person-gesture
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Typically represents frustration, exasperation, disbelief, annoyance, 'what did I just hear/see', or embarrassment.
Backstory
The 'person gesturing NO' emoji (1F926) was introduced in Unicode 9.0 (2016). The combination adds skin tone (1F3FF - dark), a zero-width joiner (200D), and the male sign (2642 FE0F) to specify a dark-skinned male performing the gesture. This particular combination solidifies the interpretation for a specific demographic, building on the general 'shrug' or 'can't be bothered' sentiment of the base emoji.
Usage Examples
- Reacting to a bad pun: 'Oh, for real? 🤦🏿♂️'
- Expressing disbelief at someone's actions: 'Did he actually just say that? 🤦🏿♂️'
- Feeling overwhelmed by a situation: 'I can't even deal with this right now. 🤦🏿♂️'
- Commenting on political absurdity: 'Another day, another facepalm moment. 🤦🏿♂️'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Widely understood as a 'facepalm' gesture, symbolizing a reaction to something foolish, obvious, or highly frustrating.
East Asian culture:
Similar interpretation, often used humorously or to express a mild sense of defeat or bewilderment.