If “sup” and dick pics aren’t working out as a romantic dating-app opener — let’s be real, both are awful ways to start a conversation — then pull up with a snowflake emoji. An ice-cold hello might just be a surefire way to get hot and heavy.
This became a trend last week after Migos rapper Quavo riffed on the “How It Started vs. How It’s Going” meme, which has been so oversaturated that even queen Peppa Pig tested out the joke.
Quavo’s version wasn’t as cheesy. He opted for romance. With the caption “HOW I PULLED UP: HOW WE COMING ?,” Quavo showed off his initial DMs with rapper Saweetie in March 2018 and a recent selfie of the couple.
Quavo can’t stop gassing up his game. He explained the line to GQ in July: “I told her, ‘You an icy girl, you need a glacier boy.’” Quavo sent the snowflake emoji to Saweetie as a reference for her 2017 hit “Icy Girl.” Saweetie returned the favor with the noodle bowl emoji, a call-out to Migos’ track “Stir Fry.”
There’s nothing quite like two kids in love. His pull-up game inspired others to shoot their digital shot, including MTV to Lil Nas X.
Let’s be real here. Most of us aren’t famous rappers with clout, game and money. As Saweetie tweeted earlier this week, “Don’t send her a ❄️ unless you sending some $$$.” In a reply tweet, she wisely added, “she need to know you not about to waste her time…think about it as an investment.” TL;DR: Bills better be falling when the snowflake comes calling.
Worse, if your crush doesn’t know any better, they might get the wrong message and think you’re trying to cop cocaine. The snowflake emoji had a reputation way before Quavo and Saweetie DM’d. On Venmo and other money transferring apps, the snowflake emoji is code for paying for blow.
Conservatives also have a history of referring to liberals as “snowflakes” — because people on the left are “fragile” and “need to feel special.” In 2017, Tomi Lahren, one of the many blondes on Fox News, held the Snowflake Awards for conservative news site The Blaze. Lahren honored Meryl Streep with a Lifetime Achievement Award. (Kind of a dumb choice, to be honest. Meryl has so many awards she’s not even going to know — or be offended — she won.)
So don’t go just hopping into any progressive’s DMs with a snowflake. You might end up accidentally offending your beau. Because if they don’t know your reference, suddenly your slick move might be, well, slippery.
It’s cuffing season. Now is not the time to trip up.
Joseph Longo
Joseph Longo is a culture and entertainment journalist whose work has appeared in The Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly and more. He's still trying to understand what it means to be a Gemini Rising.
