If you’ve ever been writing a text on your phone and thought, “You know what would be great right now? A beaver emoji,” you’re apparently not alone. The Oregon state animal, aka the American Beaver, aka Castor canadensis, may be on its way to emoji glory.

But in a teeth-gnashing twist, residents of the Beaver State not only aren’t behind the beaver emoji idea, we’re not considered primary candidates for using it.

According to an article on the website Slate, the beaver emoji idea can instead be credited to, as April Glaser writes, “a cadre of Canadians, lesbians, semi-aquatic mammal enthusiasts, and emoji specialists.”

Ideas for what a beaver emoji might look like, as submitted in a proposal to the Unicode Consortium.Illustration by Anna Zeng

The eclectic assortment of beaver emoji backers created a proposal, Glaser writes, which was submitted in March to the Unicode Consortium.

What’s that? A nonprofit Silicon Valley group with responsibilities that include functioning as, to use the Los Angeles Times’ phrase, “The shadowy overlords who approve emojis.”

In the proposal, Joan Donovan (whose bio says she “married a Canadian woman”), Nathalie Reid (“a proud Canadian lesbian”), Theo Schear (“builds bridges not dams”), ​Jennifer 8. Lee of (a former New York Times journalist whose work includes being an “emoji activist”) and Anna Zeng (“now has an entire Pinterest board of semi-aquatic rodents”) request that the beaver emoji be added to the Unicode emoji library.

The rather humorous proposal doesn’t mention the beaver’s hallowed status as the Oregon state animal, an honor that, as the Oregon Secretary of State’s office notes, the beaver has enjoyed since the 1969 Legislature made it so.

The Oregon Blue Book entry points out that the beaver “has been referred to as ‘nature’s engineer,’ and its dam-building activities are important to natural water flow and erosion control. Oregon is known as the ‘Beaver State’ and Oregon State University’s athletic teams are called the ‘Beavers.’”

The Unicode Consortium proposal says that the beaver merits its own emoji because it “represents the nation of Canada," where the beaver is often used "in marketing materials to tourists. As the national emblem of Canada, the beaver is synonymous worldwide with Canadian culture.”

The proposal also says that, “among LGBTQ+ people, beavers are a playful subcultural symbol," and sometimes used in slang to refer to a woman’s vagina. “Among lesbians,” the proposal says, “references to beavers are inside jokes that carry no pejorative insult.”

The proposal also argues for creating a beaver emoji because, while there’s a possible similarity between beavers, and emojis for chipmunks and raccoons, “these animals are not related and the images are sufficiently distinct.”

When might Oregonians be able to honor the animal that, as the Oregon Blue Book says, boasts such attributes as “a broad, flat tail,” “large, fully webbed hind feet,” “strong toes “with long nails, one notched to serve as a combing claw,” “small beady eyes that are protected from injury by a transparent membrane,” and “front teeth, which grow continually”?

According to the Unicode Consortium draft emoji candidates page, the beaver is in the running. But, along with such other hopefuls as ninja, bison, dodo, potted plant, blueberries, fondue, magic wand, screwdriver and plunger, the beaver emoji has to be officially approved by the shadowy overlords — er, the Unicode Consortium.

Until that final decision, beaver emoji fans will just have to try not to gnaw their fingernails while they wait.

-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist

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