Name: Gaymoji.

Appearance: Bright, cute, lewd.

Age: One week.

Gaymoji … is that like gay emoji? Got it in one! Now that the world communicates mostly using little cartoon symbols, the gay dating app Grindr has introduced its own symbols – or “gaymoji” – to represent gay life.

I see. So it’s mostly about equal rights and coming out to your parents? Nah, it’s mostly about sex.

I thought emoji already did that? There’s that long, curved aubergine emoji, isn’t there? And that pert, dimpled peach? Too vague for Grindr, I’m afraid. Gaymoji offers aubergines and peaches in various different skin tones, an aubergine being measured by a ruler, a pierced aubergine, a peach on a dinner plate ...

OK. I think I get the message. Incredibly graphic yet strangely coy. Plus there’s a whole new range of symbols, often subtly encoded.

Such as? A massive cockerel, two large medicine balls, a nose sniffing from a bottle marked “Poppers”, a monkey being spanked, a man blindfolded and silenced with a ball-gag ...

Ye-es. I wonder if gay culture has lost some subtlety over the years. It’s feels a long time since the days of speaking Polari and hanging a bandana in your pocket. Oh, there’s still some subtlety left, as Grindr discovered. The original gaymoji included a large yellow capital T, which had to be removed a day after launch.

What’s wrong with a T? I’m pretty sure there are several in Scrabble. It’s slang for Tina, which is slang for Christina, which is slang for crystal meth.

OK. Like ecstasy has at times been called E or X? Exactly. Except crystal meth and gay sex are a controversial mixture. It’s the drug most often used for so-called “chemsex” or “party and play”, during which men meet up for long, drug-fuelled orgies.

Sounds fun, if that’s your thing. I expect it is fun, but it is also dangerous. T is not good for you, and people who take it often make bad choices, and seem more likely to catch HIV.

So why did such a respectable app as Grindr encourage it? They say they didn’t mean to. They said in a statement that the T “was intended to follow the D and resemble the acronym ‘DT’, also known as ‘down to’ followed by whatever it is that the user is down to ‘do’.”

Such as sex? For example.

Do say: “Hello. I’d like some sex please.”

Don’t say: “We’re on Grindr. I kind of guessed that.”