17-05-2025
Why the Isle of Wight needs a hovercraft emoji right now!
In this whirlwind of digital communication we navigate, the emoji has become a potent tool.
A well-placed smiley face can soften a terse message, a thumbs-up can convey swift agreement, and a string of party poppers can share joyous news without typing a word.
From hieroglyphs to pixels, we've always sought succinct expression.
Yet, for us Islanders, there's a glaring omission in this colourful lexicon, a void frankly more noticeable with each Solent crossing.
I speak of the majestic, iconic, and utterly indispensable hovercraft.
Now, I'm sure the Unicode Consortium, our emoji gatekeepers, are frightfully busy.
They're no doubt deliberating over the precise curvature of a new croissant emoji or the exact shade of a contemplative face. We appreciate their diligence.
We have emojis for steam trains, for cruise ships, even for a rather futuristic-looking monorail. But no hovercraft. How can this be?
Imagine the scene: you're gliding across the water, the Spinnaker Tower shrinking in your wake, a seafort slipping by.
You want to share this moment, to send a quick message to a loved one - "Just leaving Southsea, be with you soon!" And then you reach for the emoji keyboard.
A ferry? Too pedestrian. A speedboat? Not quite the same gravitas. A rocket? Well, perhaps a slight exaggeration of its speed.
The current situation is frustrating. I've found myself resorting to unsatisfactory combinations - perhaps a ship, a gust of wind, and a bird's wing, hoping the recipient deciphers my Solent-specific shorthand.
It's hardly ideal. Possible, but you lose something in the translation.
Think of the sheer utility! A quick tap of a hovercraft emoji could signify "I'm on my way over," "Meet you at the terminal," or even, with a preceding sad face, "Oh dear, it looks like the hover might be off due to this pesky fog!"
The possibilities are endless, and the boost to Island pride immeasurable.
Perhaps this seems a trivial matter in the grand scheme of things.
But isn't it often the small, everyday things that bring a touch of joy or, in this case, a minor but persistent niggle?
We Island dwellers are a practical, innovative bunch. We built the world's first commercial passenger hovercraft service, for goodness sake! Surely, we deserve the digital equivalent to acknowledge this pioneering spirit.
So, I put it to you, fellow hovercraft fans, and perhaps even to those mysterious emoji arbiters across the globe: isn't it time the hovercraft took its rightful place amongst the digital icons of our age?
It's a small ask, but one that would bring a disproportionate amount of satisfaction to those of us who know and love these remarkable machines.
After all, if there's room for a floppy disk emoji (a relic most of Gen Z have never encountered), there's certainly space for a vessel that continues to zip across our waters with such distinctive panache.
Let the campaign commence! Now, who knows the email address for the Unicode Consortium?
