Scientific community up in tentacles over Apple's 'upside down' squid emoji

Posted:
in iOS edited December 2018
Apple's artistic decisions have once again landed the company in hot water, this time with scientists who take issue with the tech giant's emoji rendition of a squid.




The Monterey Bay Aquarium in a tweet on Wednesday noted Apple's squid emoji is "upside down."

More specifically, the siphon -- used for breathing, excreting waste and locomotion via jet propulsion -- on Apple's squid is claimed to be located on its "face" when it should be positioned on the opposite side of the head. Pun-happy personnel responsible for maintaining the aquarium's Twitter page took umbrage with the squid emoji, suggesting Apple took undue artistic license when it designed the character.

"Not even squidding the siphon should be behind the head [right now] it just looks like a weirdo nose," the tweet reads.

Indeed, Apple's take is the only emoji to place the siphon, also known as the funnel, on the squid's "face," as revealed in a collection of squid characters aggregated by Emojipedia. The organ is not present on designs in use by Samsung, Microsoft, Facebook and others.

Despite the fervor, Apple's version appears to be a faithful rendition of certain squid species.

Biological drawings and photographs of dissections readily available online corroborate Apple's siphon placement. Anterior and ventral views of the bilaterally symmetrical animal show the funnel jutting out from beneath the creature's mantle between its eyes, with fin, arm and tentacle locations mirroring those of Apple's emoji.

The squid emoji was approved as part of Unicode 9.0 in 2016, and Apple's iteration has not changed since its debut that same year.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,275member
    Headline of the week😆
    cornchipsphericSoundJudgment
  • Reply 2 of 25
    anomeanome Posts: 1,533member

    Now there'll be a long argument between different marine biologists over which rendition is more representative. This could be as bad as the fight over where the lettuce goes on a burger.

    cornchipnetmage
  • Reply 3 of 25
    tbornottbornot Posts: 116member
    Monterey was one of the fortifications the Spanish built after the Russians built a fortress north of the Golden Gate.  The fortress is still there, Fort Ross.
  • Reply 4 of 25
    First it was the bagel emoji and now it’s the squid emoji! When is Apple going to start taking emoji design seriously?!?!
    cornchipiqatedo
  • Reply 5 of 25
    I’ve been to that aquarium. It was used in Star Trek IV.
    macseeker
  • Reply 6 of 25
    anome said:

    Now there'll be a long argument between different marine biologists over which rendition is more representative. This could be as bad as the fight over where the lettuce goes on a burger.

    How dare you impinge on the holy lettuce placement!
    cornchipanome
  • Reply 7 of 25
    Maybe they should have rendered it as a plate of fried calamari with dipping sauce.

    bonobobsphericbeowulfschmidtwilliamlondonradarthekatjony0
  • Reply 8 of 25
    TomETomE Posts: 172member
    Big Deal !
  • Reply 9 of 25
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    chasm said:
    Headline of the week😆
    Business Insider and Bloomberg will be on this like stink on poop.
    macseekercornchipmwhitewilliamlondonradarthekatjony0
  • Reply 10 of 25
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,911member
    lkrupp said:
    chasm said:
    Headline of the week😆
    Business Insider and Bloomberg will be on this like stink on poop.
    Forbes: iOS 14.1 emojis have a nasty surprise...
    EsquireCatscornchipchasmmbenz1962sphericwilliamlondonradarthekat
  • Reply 11 of 25
    MplsP said:
    lkrupp said:
    chasm said:
    Headline of the week😆
    Business Insider and Bloomberg will be on this like stink on poop.
    Forbes: iOS 14.1 emojis have a nasty surprise...
    Massive flaw in Apple's Communication Standard Affects All Users
    cornchipchasmsphericradarthekat
  • Reply 12 of 25
    I long for time when this is the biggest controversy of the day.
    cornchip
  • Reply 13 of 25
    bitmodbitmod Posts: 267member
    Apple is doomed
    cornchipanome
  • Reply 14 of 25
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,945member
    bitmod said:
    Apple is doomed
    Tim & Jonny obviously out of their gourds & no longer fit to run Apple.
    mwhitewilliamlondonanomeradarthekat
  • Reply 15 of 25
    Maybe they should have rendered it as a plate of fried calamari with dipping sauce.


    That reminds me of a Star Wars sketch from Robot Chicken.

    Admiral Ackbar and Mon Mothma go out to a restaurant for dinner.

    Mon Mothma: I'll have the Calamari.

    Admiral Ackbar: Well in that case, I'll have the insensitive bitch!

    sphericnetmageradarthekat
  • Reply 16 of 25
    evilutionevilution Posts: 1,399member
    It has been anthropomorphised, big deal.
    Humans aren’t yellow but we had yellow faced emojis for about 20 years.
    radarthekat
  • Reply 17 of 25
    TomE said:
    Big Deal !
    Yeah really....thats why it’s emojis. Nobody complained about the face w zipper, that doesn’t represent the real face?? Scientific community my button 
    AppleExposed
  • Reply 18 of 25
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,015member
    Once this is settled in court, our long national nightmare will be over
  • Reply 19 of 25
    You're all missing the point.  Apple has a longstanding history of promoting alternate ports.  Within 8 months, the standard cephalopod jet port will be deprecated in favor of this new one.  And everyone at IEEE COMDEV will have to scramble back to their notes from 10th grade bio.

    JustSomeGuy1
  • Reply 20 of 25
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Mmmm.

    Most probably an honest mistake during communication.

    Two images were required, but they were both written up with the same specification:  

    "We need a picture of a slimy, spineless creature that breathes and excretes through the same orifice."

    This is actually the 'Bloomberg Journalist' emoji. The 'Squid' emoji will be showcased early next year.
    edited December 2018 king editor the gratenetmageAppleExposedradarthekat
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