Unicode's new emoji refuses to put respect on Bigfoot's name

The Unicode Consortium has announced that it's adding what's essentially a Bigfoot emoji to the open Unicode standard this fall. The famous cryptid will appear as "Hairy Creature" alongside a selection of other fun new emoji options in Unicode 17.0.

It might seem strange that a consortium of companies as powerful as Apple, Google and Microsoft would practically subtweet one of North America's most famous semi-mythological creatures. But the global nature of Unicode makes avoiding region-specific nomenclature preferable whenever possible. To me, that's Bigfoot, plain and simple, but elsewhere in the world it might scan as a yowie, yeti, nuk-luk, hibagon, orang pendekor or an almas.

Besides "Hairy Creature," Unicode 17.0 also includes the following new emoji additions:

• Trombone

• Treasure chest

• Distorted Face

• Fight Cloud

• Apple Core

• Orca

• Ballet Dancers

Unicode 17.0 is slated to be released on September 9, 2025, but these new emoji likely won't be added to Android and iOS until a bit after the standard is updated. You'll just have to make do with what you can create with Genmoji or Emoji Kitchen while you wait.

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