Proposal for Dosa emoji

To the Unicode Consortium

Proposal for Dosa Emoji Submitted by

Subhalakshmi G

Student, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Abstract: This is a request for the inclusion of a dosa emoji. At present, the food- asian1 category in the Unicode chart contains emojis for “Cooked rice”, “Rice bowl”, “Curry rice” and few similar ones.

The list does not contain as many food varieties originated and consumed in Indian subcontinent.

Introduction: 2

Dosa is a typical part of the South Indian cuisine3 and popular all over the Indian subcontinent.

Traditionally, Dosa is served hot along with sambar, stuffing of potatoes or paneer and chutney.

Jolting aback, Dosa is one of the most favourite dish along the Indian subcontinent and also few other places like Indonesia, Europe and so on.

1. Identification: CLDR Short name: Dosa or Dosai CLDR Key words: Dosa | Food | Asian Food 2. Images: I propose the following image for the Dosa emoji. The corresponding 72 x 72 PNG file has been submitted along with the proposal.

Figure 1 and 2 : Proposed emoji in color and black and white.

1. http://unicode.org/emoji/charts/full-emoji-list.html#food-asian 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosa 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Indian_cuisine

4. Selection Factors for Inclusion: A.

Compatibility: At present, there is no existing emoji, which represents the Dosa on any vendor platform.

B.

Expected Usage Level: 1. Frequency: We expect a very high frequency of use for this emoji as compared to existing emojis such as “curry- rice” and “rice bowl”. The Google Trends comparison between Dosa and Curry rice (Figure 3.) indicates that “Dosa” outranks “Curry rice” quite a few times.

Figure 3. Google Trends interest over time for “Dosa" and “Curry rice”4

Figure 4. Google Trends by region for “Dosa” and “Curry rice”5

4.Google trends- Interest over timer Dosa and Curry rice- worldwide, since 2008https://trends.google.co.in/trends/explore? cat=71&date=2008-08-10%202017-08-09&gprop=images&q=dosa,curry%20rice 5. Google trends- Region wise interest- worldwide, since 2008- https://trends.google.co.in/trends/ explore?cat=71&date=2008-08-10%202017-08-09&gprop=images&q=dosa,curry%20rice

Google search of the word “Dosa” results to about 34 million results6 and Instagram tags for the words “Dosa”7, “Dosai”8 and “Dosas”9 counts to about 200 thousand.

Figure 5: Instagram tags for the word “Dosas, Dosa and Dosai”

6. https://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&site=webhp&source=hp&q=dosa&oq=dosa&gs_l=psy-ab.

3..35i39k1l2j0l2.1934.2366.0.2611.5.4.0.0.0.0.177.342.0j2.2.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..

3.2.342.0..0i67k1j0i131k1.D3fa7qw9KbM 7. https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/dosa/ 8. https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/dosai/ 9. https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/dosas/

2. Multiple Usages: When we consider the alternative meanings of Dosa, it gives us enormous possibilities which on the go, outranks the comparisons above. For instances, it can be used to represent among many other things to a. Describe the food consumed. b. To represent the traditional food. c. To denote having breakfast, tiffin or dinner. d. Referring to a fast food shop.

Figure 6 : Usage of the proposed emoji (created using iphonefaketext.com)

3. Use in sequence: The Dosa emoji could be used in the sequence of Asian Food chart.

C.

Image Distinctiveness: The dosa comes in various varieties and shapes but still is distinctively unique among the other food recipes present in food chart or any food recipe in that case.

D.

Completeness: The Dosa emoji would help fill out the set of “ Asian- Food” emojis, which is currently dominated by the “Prepared- Food” emojis. This would join the “curryrice” and “steamed-rice” emoji originating from the Indian subcontinent.

E.

Frequently Requested: Twitter and few other social media networks such as Quora reveals plenty of demand for the emoji. Examples of some such requests are shown below.

Figure 7 : People requesting and demanding for a dosa emoji (twitter)

5. Selection Factors for Exclusion: F.

Overly specific: The Dosa emoji cannot be overly- specific as it can be used to represent various meanings, be it a place or referring to a food.

G. Open-Ended: Not applicable.

H. Already Representable: Not applicable. There is no emoji which represents Dosa in the Food category.

I.

Logos, Brands, UI Icons, Signage, Specific People, Deities: Not applicable. The proposed emoji is free of copyright concerns and does contain reference to deities, logos and specific people.

J.

Transient: Dosas have existed for hundreds of years10, and new varieties are found every now then. Therefore, this emoji cannot be transient.

K. Faulty Comparison: Not applicable.

6. Sort location: The proposed emoji should be placed in the “Food” section.

A. The proposed emoji should be placed in the “Food-Asian” section.

B. The proposed emoji should be placed after the “Curry rice” emoji.

10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosa