We May Soon Get a Taco Emoji (and a Hot Dog and Prayer Beads and...)

When we last left off, the Unicode Consortium—the official gatekeepers of the international Unicode Standard—had announced a major, approximately 250 character addition to The Unicode Standard, the numerical glossasry of keyboard characters and symbols. While we've yet to see "Beamed Descending Musical Notes" appear in our iPhone keyboards, a new update to the Unicode Standard promises that a much-needed symbol will soon be part of our neo-pictographic vocabularies: the taco.

According to a blog post on the Unicode Consortium's website, "The Unicode Consortium has accepted 37 new emoji characters as candidates for Unicode 8.0, scheduled for mid-2015. These are candidates—not yet finalized—so some may not appear in the release. There are many possible emoji that could be added, but releases need to be restricted to a manageable number. Many other emoji characters, such as other food items and symbols of religious significance, are still being assessed, and could appear in a future release of the Unicode Standard."

So while fly-fishing may still have to be typed out by thumb, a whole host of new characters and expressions will become available. Here's a list of the new emoji we can expect in 2015:

Missing Top Sports Symbols

• CRICKET BAT AND BALL
• VOLLEYBALL
• FIELD HOCKEY STICK AND BALL
• ICE HOCKEY STICK AND PUCK
• TABLE TENNIS PADDLE AND BALL
• BADMINTON RACQUET AND BIRDIE

Faces, Hands, and Zodiac Symbols

• ZIPPER-MOUTH FACE

• MONEY-MOUTH FACE

• FACE WITH THERMOMETER

• NERD FACE

• THINKING FACE

• FACE WITH ROLLING EYES

• UPSIDE-DOWN FACE

• FACE WITH HEAD-BANDAGE

• ROBOT FACE

• HUGGING FACE

• SIGN OF THE HORNS

• CRAB

• SCORPION

• LION FACE

• BOW AND ARROW

• AMPHORA

Symbols of Religious Significance

• PRAYER BEADS

• KAABA

• MOSQUE

• SYNAGOGUE

• MENORAH WITH NINE BRANCHES

• PLACE OF WORSHIP

• DHYANI BUDDHA

Most Popularly Requested Emoji

• HOT DOG

• TACO

• BURRITO

• BOTTLE WITH POPPING CORK

• POPCORN

• TURKEY

• UNICORN FACE

• CHEESE WEDGE

All we're really wondering is whether Nick Offerman has started handcrafting a super-sized wooden taco yet. Visit the Unicode Consortium's blog to view the official announcement.

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