Call Me Hand Emoji

A hand with the thumb and pinky finger extended, middle three fingers curled. Officially named "Call Me Hand" in Unicode (mimicking holding a phone to your ear), but most people read it as the shaka: the Hawaiian gesture of aloha, friendship, and good vibes.

The shaka is the official hand gesture of Hawaii. It represents what Hawaiians call the aloha spirit: friendship, understanding, compassion, and solidarity among the diverse cultures that live on the islands. When surfers adopted it in the 1950s-60s, it went global. Now it's the universal "hang loose" sign.

The dual meaning ("call me" vs. "hang loose") creates a funny tension. Unicode named it after the telephone gesture, but actual usage skews overwhelmingly toward the shaka meaning. Nobody sends 🤙 to mean "telephone me." They send it to mean "it's all good" or "good vibes."

On Instagram, 🤙 dominates surf, skateboard, snowboard, and outdoor adventure content. Any photo at the beach, on a mountain, or near water gets the shaka treatment. It's the emoji of the action sports lifestyle.

In texting, 🤙 signals a relaxed, chill attitude. "See you Saturday 🤙" means "confirmed, and I'm not stressed about it." It's the laid-back version of 👍, with none of the passive-aggressive undertones that Gen Z reads into the thumbs up.

On Slack, it works as a casual acknowledgment. Less formal than 👍, more specific than 🙌. A 🤙 reaction says "cool, I'm on board" with surfer energy.

In Hawaii itself, the shaka is used across all social contexts: greeting, thanking, saying goodbye, expressing solidarity. It's not subcultural there. It's how people communicate.

The shaka gesture traces back to a sugar mill accident in 1940s Hawaii. According to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Hamana Kalili of Laie lost his three middle fingers while working at the Kahuku Sugar Mill. After the accident, he was reassigned to guard the sugar trains. His distinctive wave (thumb and pinky extended, the only fingers he had left) became something kids mimicked. Children trying to sneak rides on the trains would signal each other with Kalili's hand shape to warn that the guard was coming.

The gesture took on its own meaning. Atlas Obscura documents that local politician Frank Fasi and used car salesman Lippy Espinda (who appeared as extras in Hawaii Five-O and The Brady Bunch) helped popularize it on TV in the 1960s. Espinda used the shaka in his commercials with the catchphrase "shaka, brah!" and is credited with spreading both the gesture and Hawaiian Pidgin into mainstream Hawaiian culture.

Surfing exported it to the world. As surf culture exploded globally in the 1950s-60s, Hawaiian surfers brought the shaka into the water. The gesture shifted from a local warning signal to a universal sign of stoke and aloha.

In 2016, Unicode added it as U+1F919U+1F919 CALL ME HAND. The naming controversy was immediate: surfers and Hawaiians pointed out that "call me hand" missed the cultural meaning entirely. There's even been a proposal for a dedicated Shaka emoji that would be oriented differently from the "call me" version, though it hasn't been approved.

A full-length documentary, "Shaka, A Story of Aloha", explores the gesture's history across Hawaiian culture.

Approved in Unicode 9.0 (2016) as U+1F919U+1F919 CALL ME HAND. Added to Emoji 3.0. Part of the People & Body category, hand-fingers-partial subcategory. CLDR short name: "call me hand." Keywords: call, hand, hang loose, shaka. Supports skin tone modifiers.

1. 1940Hamana Kalili loses three fingers at Kahuku Sugar Mill. His distinctive wave becomes the shaka.↗
2. 1960Lippy Espinda popularizes shaka on Hawaiian TV commercials and as an extra in Hawaii Five-O
3. 1964Australian surfer Peter Troy demos surfing in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil picks up the shaka via surf culture, later absorbing it into Gracie-era jiu-jitsu.↗
4. 2016Unicode 9.0 approves U+1F919 CALL ME HAND (intended as shaka equivalent)↗
5. 2024Hawaii becomes the first U.S. state with an official hand gesture. Governor Josh Green signs SB3312 on June 24, 2024.↗

In Hawaii, the shaka is used by everyone, everywhere. It's a greeting, a farewell, a thank-you, and a general expression of aloha. It's the official hand gesture of the state and appears on license plates, bumper stickers, and commercial signage.

In surf culture globally (California, Australia, Portugal, Brazil, Indonesia), it means "stoked" or "hang loose." The meaning traveled with surfing.

In mainstream American texting, most people read 🤙 as either "call me" (the literal phone gesture) or "hang loose" (the surf/shaka meaning). Which one depends on context and the sender's age. Older senders tend toward "call me." Younger senders tend toward "good vibes."

The gesture doesn't carry negative connotations in any major culture, making it one of the safest hand emojis for international use.

• •The shaka is the official hand gesture of the state of Hawaii. It appears on license plates, bumper stickers, and government signage across the islands.
• •Hawaii is the first and only U.S. state with an official hand gesture. SB3312 was signed on June 24, 2024 after passing both chambers unanimously. Steve Sue, the Project Shaka founder who spent five years making a documentary about the gesture, wrote the bill himself.
• •Brazilian jiu-jitsu adopted the shaka in the 1970s via surf culture. Rolls Gracie, son of Gracie founder Carlos Gracie and the first in the family to own a surfboard, brought the gesture into training rooms. BJJ competitors still flash it on the podium today.
• •The "call me" reading of 🤙 is functionally obsolete among younger users. 76% of millennials and 81% of Gen Z report anxiety when a phone rings unexpectedly, and only 14% of Gen Z consider voice calls their go-to. Google Trends searches for "call me emoji" register at zero against "shaka."
• •Hamana Kalili lost his three middle fingers at the Kahuku Sugar Mill in the 1940s. His grand-nephew Von Logan confirmed the sugar mill accident version of the story, dispelling alternative legends involving sharks and dynamite fishing.
• •Lippy Espinda, a used car salesman who appeared as extras in Hawaii Five-O and The Brady Bunch, popularized the shaka through TV commercials in the 1960s. He's credited with spreading both the gesture and the word "shaka" into mainstream Hawaiian culture.
• •There's a full-length documentary about the shaka called "Shaka, A Story of Aloha" that traces the gesture from Hamana Kalili through surf culture to global adoption.
• •Unicode named the emoji CALL ME HANDCALL ME HAND rather than SHAKASHAKA, sparking debate about whether the Western telephone-mime interpretation was prioritized over the Hawaiian cultural meaning. A separate Shaka proposal exists but hasn't been approved.

• •Older contacts might read 🤙 literally as "call me" (the telephone gesture). If you want someone to actually call you, spell it out. 🤙 is ambiguous between "call me" and "hang loose."
• •Using 🤙 in a serious or formal context. The shaka energy is inherently casual. Sending 🤙 after bad news or in a condolence message reads as tone-deaf.

• •There's a feature-length documentary called "Shaka, A Story of Aloha" exploring the gesture's Hawaiian roots and global spread. The trailer premiered in 2022 and the film screened at Hawaiian cultural events.
• •The World Surf League produced a "Nuggets" segment asking "Where did the shaka come from?" featuring surfers explaining the gesture's Hawaiian origins and what it means in the water.
• •The Keep it Aloha Podcast produced a video on Hamana Kalili's legacy in Laie, interviewing community members about the man behind the gesture.
• •Emojipedia documented proposals for a dedicated Shaka emoji that would be oriented differently from the "Call Me Hand," acknowledging that the current emoji doesn't fully capture the Hawaiian gesture's cultural weight.
• •Lippy Espinda, a used car salesman and TV extra who appeared in Hawaii Five-O and The Brady Bunch, helped popularize the shaka through his TV commercials in the 1960s with the catchphrase "shaka, brah!"

• •U+1F919U+1F919. Supports skin tone modifiers (U+1F919U+1F919 + U+1F3FBU+1F3FB through U+1F3FFU+1F3FF).
• •On Slack: :call_me_hand::call_me_hand: or :call_me::call_me:. On Discord: :call_me::call_me:.
• •The official Unicode name is CALL ME HAND, but the CLDR keywords include "hang loose" and "shaka." If building search, index all three terms.
• •The orientation of the hand differs from a true shaka (which is typically shown with the hand vertical or angled, not horizontal like a phone). This is why there's a proposal for a separate shaka emoji.

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