What is the smiling buck tooth emoji GIF that’s popular on Twitter?
An old-school smiling emoji is currently trending on Twitter, but it’s not an icon you have on your iPhone keyboard. Instead, it’s a GIF of a smiley face with buck teeth that slowly transitions into a worried look. And everyone on Twitter is using it to describe realizations they’ve had.
me after telling 10 different stories when i was just trying to tell 1 pic.twitter.com/pQoQB9g2Ih
— tya! (@lanatya17) May 30, 2023
Where did the smiling buck tooth emoji image come from?
According to Know Your Meme, the smiling buck tooth emoji has been around since 2018, when vector graphic artist Hafiza Samsuddin created it. The emoji was then a stock photo on Stock Unlimited, described as a “happy and excited emoticon.”
The buck tooth emoji coasted along in emoji land until Twitter user Kayla (@smetsee) turned a photo of the smiley face’s worried look into a meme in 2022.
her: are you stupid
me: pic.twitter.com/IbXNkgiaVG— kayla✧ ༻*̣̩⋆̩☽⋆ (@smetsee) October 21, 2022
The original tweet received 12,000 likes and 1,750 retweets.
While Kayla’s tweet enjoyed moderate popularity, @icedanecr made a new variation of the joke in May 2023. The updated meme received 21,600 likes and over 4,392 retweets.
him: are you stupid
me: pic.twitter.com/BEGBAoZV2U— راما (@icedanecr) May 21, 2023
Why are people using this old stock photo of a smiley face with buck teeth now?
Know Your Meme reported that it was a Twitter user who blended the original buck tooth smiling emoji with the worried emoji to create a transitional GIF that represents either witnessing something awkward or having a sudden realization. It was @icedanecr’s version of the meme that kicked off the currently viral trend.
It’s not 100% clear who the first person to make the GIF was, but it appears Twitter user @nandinipatell may have been when she posted this:
he mentioned a girl mid-story telling pic.twitter.com/YfjbOtTTeq
— nandini (@nandinipatell) May 31, 2023
The gif is being used to describe many different situations ranging from funny to awkward to sobering.
when i uncover information i actively sought out pic.twitter.com/dEKTK2ec8n
— ✧ (@northstardoll) June 11, 2023
when i was looking for a job then i found a job pic.twitter.com/hqUZrQYDJB
— vile (@peachcrisis) June 12, 2023
when i’m gossiping with my coworkers and realize they probably talk about me when i’m not there too pic.twitter.com/mKAilx0ubA
— rae (@6arbiedoll) June 12, 2023
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