Open Radar

 
In Messages, typing the two characters “b” and “)” followed by a space converts the combination to 😎, an emoji of a smiling face with sunglasses.

I’m not 100% sure this is a Messages effect, but it only seems to be happening there.

This seems wrong to me for several reasons:

1) “p)” doesn’t make any sense as a shorthand for this emoji. It’s not a standard shorthand (as far as I’m aware), and it doesn’t read as “glasses” since there’s only one eye. And if “p)” means “smiley with glasses”, why doesn’t “b)” mean this too? If they’re anything, “p)” and “b)” are some kind of wink.

2) If a shortcut for this emoji is really necessary, “8)” would at least a plausible mapping. 

3) However, this emoji really isn’t in the top tier of use, and having the app interfere with your typing to implement it is just intrusive.

4) The trigger “b)” is actually a very common thing to want to type, because it represents the second item in a lettered list. As in, “I’m mad at Messages because a) it constantly interferes with my typing these days, and b) when it does this, the mappings aren’t even plausible.”