The Rubbing Hands emoji, aka the scheming emoji, has become popular in memes where people anticipate or react to something. It’s popularly used along with the phrase “when the function x…”
The expressive, oversized emoji—which some argue looks like it’s clapping—has a striking stare. That’s made it stand out as a funny canvas to make memes from.
Origins of the Rubbing Hands emoji
The rubbing hands emoji first appeared among other emoji images on Shutterstock in 2018. It was described as a “Scheming villain emoticon rubbing his hands.” The emoji character has a disquieting smile. Its brows are in a sharp arch as it makes direct eye contact while rubbing its hands together.
It’s unclear exactly when the emoji started being used as a meme, but it first appeared on social media with a 2023 tweet from @pastor.flacc.
Pairing the emoji with captions such as “when the function got…” or “when the hangout got…” has become a popular pairing. Users use it to joke about the things they’re looking forward to happening, from realistic to wishful thinking.
If it feels like this meme is for the naughty, that’s probably because of how eerily (and hilariously) some of these captions go with the leering image.
The funniest ‘When the function got…’ memes
More emoji memes:
- Blue Emoji memes: a chronicle
- How to respond to the Nerd Emoji 🤓
- The origins of the Holy Moly! emoji
- The ‘donatella VERSACE 💜’ purple heart meme returns
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