wtf do the daffodils and chess pieces (pawns?) mean?

[poolsofsunshine]

Daffodils seem to be being used as a sarcastic version of the icon on a few threads, in fact they're being used in a similar way to a , is that right?

No idea what the chess pawn's about, is it to accuse posters of being mindless pawns? That one isn't on the MN site provided emoji selection but seems to be cropping up on various threads from different user names.

I dont have flags or tennis balls either

Is there a list of icons that some people can't see? I don't have the shamrock/clover one or the dragon one.

All I have is these:

Smiley face:
Big grin:
Wink:
Shocked:
Sceptical:
Confused:
Embarrassed:
Angry:
Sad:
Envious:
No comment:
Wine glass:
Hot Beverage:
Cake:
Flowers:
Bear:
Daffodil:
Football:
Star:
Halo:
Gin:
Glitterball:

Perhaps we have to be premium members now, and pay for the privilege of having a pawn or a shamrock. :)

Is there a way to block a specific user?

♟ is just an emoji on iPhone / iPad in the Activity section.

@MrsJoshNavidi
Absolutely love your user name, but I am his wife too so bugger off.
Anyway, I have the same as you, I'm not a premium member

♟️why is this the only chess pawn I can find? It's different... Why is a chess pawn a dementor? Or isn't it a chess pawn at all? It's very confusing!

The daffodil seems to be being used to say "shut up" rather than to be supportive, but perhaps it's "shut up and don't question teachers ... I hadn't noticed the connection but now that it's pointed out I guess that's it.

I used to be a teacher myself and absolutely recognise that they're an unfairly bashed profession in public and on forums in the UK, but there are over 450,000 teachers in the UK. I worked with enough slippery, smarmy, hypocritical would be deputy heads happy to tread on and use other teachers on their way up, a really unpleasant misogynistic head of PE, and a shouty, petty, would be drill heads of department, as well as lots of inspiring, dedicated professionals and lots of ordinary people just doing a job. The law of averages suggests that they aren't all going to be inspirational, or wise, or fair, or doing their best, or working hard, or even pleasant, as is equally true of every single other professional group of human beings. I don't think every thread questioning what's going on in a school should be shouted down, or shot down with daffodils

Emojis as quick ways to shut people up seem to be a bad idea surely? It's all very "okay boomer" twitteresque

• would be drill sargent (missed a word).

One for the stoners.

Puddlejuice I haven't paid. I think the pawn/ dementor is a normal Emoji. I guess the android one ♟️ is different from the iPhone one... It's been adopted in a specific way on MN though. The dementor meaning someone explained makes as much sense as anything else...

Emojis as quick ways to shut people up seem to be a bad idea surely? It's all very "okay boomer" twitteresque

To be fair the dementor thing was a tongue in cheek nod to the biscuit.

Like when a single parent posts to say she is really struggling with MH stuck in a tiny flat with no garden, having to wfh and home school kids. Anyone else wishing this was over?

You get a few supportive posts.

Then the dementors come with their "Dont ya know there's a killer virus?" "This is the new normal. Get used to it."

And then you get the Queen Dementor who thinks they're so clever and just replies with a single .

The dementor icon is mostly lighthearted and the people on the thread are aware of the irony.

I don't see that posting flowers is bullying any more than posting a smile is PA. It could be used that way, but mostly it's used like the biscuit to say "yawn, done this already".

OP, I don't think you can control what people post. People may post as they wish, providing they stick to MN guidelines.

I think some of the emojis are from high days and holidays aren’t they, there not on the list but still on the system.

Chockablok ok I get the dementor idea - it's better than the sheep/ pawn/ brainless interpretation I was reading into it, especially as it's often hard to see which post it's directed at.

On your should be used for GFs

ADreamOfGood no I appreciate that I can't control what people post (perhaps MN will sell us a super premium, ultra membership for that, seeing as at least 10% of MNers post about their top 0.1% household income their should be a good uptake...)

There not their

The pawn is off my phone's emojis

There is an actual tennis ball emoticon too. Probably introduced during Wimbledon at some point in the past. Can anyone remember why there's a glitterball? I've seen it sometimes used as a 'grey rock'.

Of course the best ones are and

There's also

The glitter ball was for strictly.

I originally thought was a sea mine.

The daffodils aren't supposed to be bullying or shutting down posters who are perceived to be anti-teacher; they're supposed to be supportive of teachers. It's a teacher-specific equivalent to the bunch of flowers emoji.
The idea came from a thread in the Staffroom.