These days, we're slowly but surely killing off the English language and replacing it with a sort of hieroglyphic-style ursprache that can replace it once and for all: emojis.

However, before we all go about evolving our communication skills in order to communicate through images alone, we should make sure that we have the ability to at least use the right image for the right situation, and it turns out that a lot of us might have been getting a few major ones wrong all along. 

Unicode, the people who govern the rules of this new universal language (they keep tabs on emoji, essentially), recently published a list of the ones that they thought could use some improvement, and what they actually mean, many of which may actually surprise you.

We can't speak for everyone of course, but these are a few of the ones that we've clearly been using in the completely wrong context. The image on the left is what normally appears in Whatsapp and on iPhone, while the middle image is Android and the image on the right is Windows phone. 

Hushed face

This isn't to be used to indicate surprise anymore, it's actually about being quiet apparently. 

Information Desk

If you though this was "sassy" or "carefree", then the emoji overlords want yo to know that you are wrong, this is, of course, an information desk. 

Triumphant face

Not the face of indignance, anger or being snooty, this is the face of someone who has just achieved something great. We should have guessed from the steam being emitted from the nostrils, of course. 

Weary cat

Not a horrified cat, this cat is actually very tired and needs to go to sleep. 

Tired

Speaking of tired, this person is not crying and is just very tired. Presumably tired and emotional...

Construction worker

The green cross on the helmet does not denote that this man is a medic, rather it's a usual symbol in Japan for construction workers to have on their helmets as a safety reminder. 

You can check out the full list of emoji that unicode think we're getting wrong over on their site and yes, there are other cat ones that we're using incorrectly. Come on people, get your act together. 

Via Shortlist