person shrugging: dark skin tone
Unicode: 1F937 1F3FF
Description
A person shrugging, with individual's skin tone as dark. They are typically depicted with raised shoulders and open palms, indicating indifference, confusion, or a lack of knowledge.
Group:
People & Body > person-gesture
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Commonly expresses indifference, confusion, 'I don't know', 'Who cares?', 'What can you do?', or a sense of helplessness.
Backstory
The shrug gesture itself is ancient, symbolizing uncertainty or resignation. The emoji was introduced with Unicode 9.0 in 2016. Its popularity quickly grew as it provided a concise visual representation for a common sentiment in digital communication, often replacing or complementing the text-based '🤷♂️' (shruggie) emoticon.
Usage Examples
- When asked a question you don't know the answer to: 'Where did I put my keys? 🤷🏿'
- Expressing resignation: 'Traffic was terrible, but 🤷🏿'
- Indifference: 'What do you want to do tonight? 🤷🏿'
- When explaining a mishap: 'The printer just stopped working, 🤷🏿'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Widely understood to mean 'I don't know' or 'It is what it is.' Used frequently in casual digital conversations.
East Asian culture:
Similar meaning, but perhaps less universal, as other forms of 'I don't know' or 'no idea' might be preferred in some contexts.