His warm smile beams out from beneath the rim of his 10-gallon Stetson, bringing farm-to-text delight into every conversation he joins. Summoned by only the most brazen texters, his rambunctious presence offers a sudden jolt of rodeo-howling glee when he rides into a thread. The message he sends? A mysterious riddle. His delivery? Wild and untamable. No one, it seems, truly knows the secrets of the chaotically alluring cowboy emoji.
At least, that’s what Adobe said in its 2022 report, release Tuesday, on the motives and methods of emoji user trends. In the analysis, Future of Creativity: 2022 U.S. Emoji Trend Report, Adobe says that no emoji is more misunderstood among users than the lone cowboy.
Read more: Confused by Some Emoji? Here’s How to Decipher Them
“Generationally, Boomers (24%), Gen X’ers (18%) and Millennials (14%) are less sure of cowboy hat face than Gen Z’ers (10%),” Adobe reported.
In second-least understood emoji among all groups was the cherry. The third-least understood, the upside-down smiley face.
While the cowboy was most misunderstood among all emojis, he could have suffered a worse fate. There’s one emoji all generations reported disliking more than any other — the pile-of-poop emoji. 💩
Read more: 5 Emoji Keyboards to Make Texting More Fun
