Pennsylvanians prefer wolf emoji when they text, study says

In the days when far-flung friends and relatives wrote and mailed each other letters, they often signed off with “SWAK” — sealed with a kiss.

If it was a love letter, the female writer might gift the recipient with a lipstick kiss imprint.

Fast forward to instantaneous communication, and we punch up our emails, texts and Facebook messages with tiny designs depicting our feelings.

Emojis now often accompany our messages, from smiley faces and hearts, to flowers and birthday cakes, to eye rolls, expressions of anger or sadness and hobbies.

The @NatlParkService ranger emoji has returned just in time for #NationalParkWeek!

Tweet us your favorite park photo using #FindYourPark and #EncuentraTuParque to see it appear! pic.twitter.com/eMO5oyBKbJ

— Natl Park Foundation (@GoParks) April 18, 2019

They can even decorate our plates, before we fill them with the food we intend to post.

Communication app Textnow.com says 1.3 billion emojis were sent over its platform in 2018.

It dug into which colorful little revelations of emotion are most popular.

The three top emojis its subscribers used last year were all about joy: the tears of laughter, blowing a kiss and heart eyes came out ahead.

Gender can even determine our emoji selections, according to TextNow.

Its study shows — no surprise here — women are almost twice as likely as men to use emojis when texting.

But its research shows men attach a flower, an arm muscle, a bag of money, flames, a heart with an arrow through it and a crown as among their most popular emojis.

Women apparently go for purple hearts (compassion), a smiley face with starry eyes, a smiley face, a heart pierced by stars and a monkey with hands over its mouth (lips sealed).

Emoji users even have favorites based on what state they reside in, TextNow says.

If you live in Pennsylvania, you most commonly attach a wolf emoji to your texts, the study finds.

No explanation for emoji choices is provided in the survey. Depending on one’s source, the wolf could mean hunting/looking for something, or it could depict cunning.

Or it could symbolize loneliness and aggressiveness, traits typically attributed to wolves.

Maybe we Keystoners like the idea of a wolf representing guardianship, ritual, loyalty and spirit, and the ability to make quick and firm emotional attachments, trusting their own instincts.

Let’s go with that one.

Some of our bordering states chose some inexplicable emojis as their favorites.

In Ohio, it’s the “raising hands” emoji that is hands-down most popular.

West Virginians really like to accentuate their texts with palm trees — maybe they wish they were a bit farther south, or planning a tropical vaca?

Residents of Delaware, Georgia and Arkansas all most often choose — different — flowers.

Perhaps those who live in Vermont are just looking outside most of the year for inspiration, but their favorite emoji is a snowman.

For those of us who are old school, or whose keyboards don’t happen to include emojis, we can still convey our joy.

Long weekend coming up? Get a raise? Plans with friends tonight?

🙂 🙂 🙂