The lets fucking go emoji: Why This High-Energy Phrase Never Actually Got Its Own Icon

The lets fucking go emoji: Why This High-Energy Phrase Never Actually Got Its Own Icon

You’ve seen the text. You’ve probably sent it. It usually arrives in all caps after a massive sports win, a promotion, or when the group chat finally agrees on a dinner spot. But if you head to your keyboard to find a specific lets fucking go emoji, you’re going to be searching for a long time. It doesn't exist. Not as a single, dedicated character, anyway.

Language is weird like that. We have an emoji for a floppy disk—something half the population hasn't touched in twenty years—but we don't have a single button for the most ubiquitous hype phrase of the 2020s.

"LFG" has become the heartbeat of digital excitement. It’s aggressive. It’s celebratory. Honestly, it’s a bit much, which is exactly why it works. But because the Unicode Consortium (the gatekeepers of our digital symbols) has some pretty strict rules about profanity and "transient" slang, the lets fucking go emoji remains a ghost in the machine. Instead, we’ve built a visual shorthand using a rotating cast of fire, rockets, and screaming faces to fill the void.

The Myth of the Official LFG Icon

Let’s get the facts straight. There is no official "lets fucking go" symbol approved by Unicode. If you see a website claiming you can download the "official" version, they are likely trying to sell you a sticker pack or, worse, get you to click a shady link.

The process for getting a new emoji approved is actually incredibly boring and bureaucratic. You have to submit a proposal to the Unicode Technical Committee. They look at things like "frequency of use" and "distinction from existing emojis." They generally steer clear of anything overtly profane. Since the phrase is anchored by a word that makes brand managers sweat, a literal lets fucking go emoji is never going to pass the censors at Apple or Google.

It’s a fascinating disconnect. We have a global digital language, yet some of our most common emotional expressions are "illegal" in that language's official dictionary. So, what did we do? We improvised. We hijacked a dozen other symbols and gave them new meaning.

How the Internet Built Its Own Hype Language

If you can't have one button, you use three.

Usually, when someone wants to convey the energy of a lets fucking go emoji, they rely on the Rocket (🚀), the Fire (🔥), or the Face Screaming in Fear (😱)—which, let’s be real, is used way more for "hype" than actual "fear" these days. Then there's the Nail Polish (💅) for a very specific type of "LFG" or the Flexed Biceps (💪).

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It’s all about the combo.

Context matters more than the pixels. In the world of finance and crypto, "LFG" is almost exclusively paired with the rocket. It’s about the "moon." In sports, it’s the fire and the shouting face. This isn't just about pictures; it’s about a specific type of digital adrenaline. Researchers like Gretchen McCulloch, author of Because Internet, have noted how we use these symbols to replace the physical gestures and tone of voice we lose when typing. You can't scream "Let's go!" through a screen, but you can spam the Collision emoji (💥) until the point is made.

Why the Phrase Exploded (and Why We Need a Visual)

The phrase "Let’s fucking go" transitioned from locker rooms to everyday life somewhere around 2017. Tom Brady used it. High-stakes gamers used it. Eventually, your aunt used a censored version of it in the family chat when she found out the brisket was done.

It’s a "phatic" expression. That’s a fancy linguistic term for words that don't really convey new information but instead perform a social function. When you text "LFG," you aren't literally telling people to move to a new location. You’re signaling alignment. You’re saying, "I am as excited as you are."

Because the phrase is so guttural, the lack of a lets fucking go emoji feels like a missing limb for heavy internet users. We are forced to be creative. This creativity actually makes the digital landscape richer. If we had a single button, it might get boring. By mixing and matching, we create "dialects" of hype.

The Technical Barriers to "Edgy" Emojis

Ever wonder why there isn't a middle finger emoji that looks... more realistic? Or why it took so long to get one at all?

The Unicode Consortium wants emojis to be universal and timeless. Slang is neither. "LFG" is huge right now, but will it be in 2040? Maybe. Maybe not. More importantly, the platforms—Apple, Samsung, Google, and Microsoft—have their own "style guides." They want their interfaces to be "family-friendly."

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A lets fucking go emoji would require these multi-billion dollar corporations to bake a "f-word" adjacent symbol into their operating systems. It’s just not going to happen. They’d rather let you use the Partying Face (🥳) and let your brain do the translation.

There is also the "Z-axis" of emoji design. This is the idea that an emoji shouldn't just be a word replaced by a picture, but an image that can mean ten different things depending on who is looking at it. A "LFG" icon is too specific. The Fire emoji is perfect because it can mean "that's cool," "I'm cooking," "it's hot outside," or "let's fucking go."

The Sports Connection: Where the Energy Lives

If you want to see the lets fucking go emoji substitutes in their natural habitat, go to Twitter (X) during the NFL playoffs or a Champions League final.

When a last-minute goal is scored, the timeline becomes a literal wall of:

  • 😤 (Face with Steam From Nose)
  • 😤 (Face with Steam From Nose)
  • 😤 (Face with Steam From Nose)

This has become the de facto "LFG" face. It captures the aggression. It captures the intensity. It’s the "hustle culture" version of the phrase. Interestingly, the use of these symbols spikes in 15-minute intervals during major live events. We are using these icons to create a collective "roar" that the physical world can't hear.

How to Properly Use "Hype" Symbols Without Looking Like a Bot

Since you can't just click a lets fucking go emoji, you have to curate your own. But there’s an art to it. Overdoing it makes you look like a spam account. Underdoing it makes you look like you’re not actually excited.

  1. The Rule of Three: One emoji is a statement. Two is an emphasis. Three is a "Let’s fucking go." Anything more than five is usually overkill unless you just won the lottery.
  2. The "Steam" Factor: Use the 😤 face when the achievement was hard-earned. Use the 🔥 face when it’s just pure hype.
  3. The "Melt": Occasionally, the 🫠 (Melting Face) is the ultimate LFG when something is so good you can't handle it. It’s the "counter-intuitive" hype.

People often ask if they should use custom Slack or Discord emojis for this. Absolutely. This is where the lets fucking go emoji actually lives. In private servers and work Slacks, custom "LFG" or "Party Parrot" icons are the gold standard. They bypass the "corporate" filters of Unicode because they are hosted locally. If you're in a community that feels "raw," the custom icons will always beat the standard keyboard.

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What’s Next for Digital Hype?

We are moving toward a world of "stickers" and "memojis" where the standard emoji set matters less and less. On iPhone, you can now turn any photo into a sticker. This is the loophole. If you want a lets fucking go emoji, just take a photo of yourself (or a friend) screaming, cut out the background, and save it as a sticker.

This is the "decentralization" of emoji. We don't need a committee in California to tell us how to express excitement anymore.

The phrase itself isn't going anywhere. It has survived multiple internet cycles and has now firmly planted itself in the "evergreen" category of slang. While the symbols we use to represent it will shift—maybe moving away from the 🚀 and more toward abstract shapes—the energy remains the same.

To get the most out of your digital hype, stop looking for the "perfect" button. Start looking for the combination that fits your specific brand of excitement. Whether that’s a string of goats (🐐) or just a single, well-placed exclamation point, the "LFG" spirit is about the speed of the response, not the perfection of the icon.

Next time something big happens, don't overthink the keyboard. Grab the first three high-energy icons you see and hit send. That’s the real way to use a lets fucking go emoji.


Actionable Next Steps

  • Audit your "Frequently Used" section: If your top emojis are all boring (👍, OK, 🙏), your digital energy might be coming off as too passive. Start incorporating the 😤 or 💥 to see how it changes the "vibe" of your group chats.
  • Create a Custom Sticker: If you’re on iOS or using a modern Android build, take a high-contrast photo of a "Hype" moment. Long-press the subject to "lift" it from the background and save it to your stickers. Use this as your personal lets fucking go emoji.
  • Contextualize your LFG: Remember that 🚀 is for "growth" (money/career) while 😤 is for "effort" (gym/sports). Matching the symbol to the type of hype makes your communication feel more authentic.