When one talks about chatting, text messaging or instant messaging, it is not unusual to assume that this communication platform is solely based on alphabetically composed texts which can sometimes make even the most emotional, serious or amusing conversation kind of boring and more like a burden.
Let’s just say that if you have ever wanted to communicate a sense of sarcasm over a text message you would know how difficult it is to communicate what you mean because of course the other person cannot physically see you to judge your facial expressions. The opposite can also happen when you are trying to communicate something crucial and serious and it may be misunderstood by the receiver as if you are being sarcastic or are joking. Hence it is safe to conclude that a communication based only on words and text composition utterly fails to what one wishes to communicate.
This big loophole in the constant communication that we do by relying on text messaging and instant messaging all day can very well be covered with the use of Emoticons which can better express the kind of real expressions the sender has while he/she was composing the message. Trust me folks, we have always underestimated the importance of emoticons in messaging because they are the real tools for accurate expression of a message in any text message.
This article hence today will clarify all confusions regarding Emoticons and will also talk in detail about all kinds of Emoticons that are used around the world.
Table of Contents
Enter into the world of Emoticons!
Emoticons are essentially a collection of random alphabets, characters, number and symbols like semicolons, hyphens, brackets and other characters that at first may seem like an indecipherable code however when gradually the use of such emoticons is adapted in everyday communication to express emotion, feelings and the meanings of any conversation these weird combination of letters and symbols actually start making sense are aren’t so indecipherable as they would have seemed earlier.
The use of such emoticons can bring a meaning to any conversation and help explain the context, emotions and purpose of any message which otherwise would be perceived in a totally different manner. Now emoticons can be constructed with letters, numbers, and symbols or they can even be in form of animated faces which can better deliver the context of any conversation. These emoticons can range from expressing happiness to sadness to flirtatiousness to a broken heart and what not.
What are the Graphical Emoticons?
As the world of instant messaging and chatting has progressed almost all social networking sites and instant messaging apps have introduced their own list and menu of a set of graphical emoticons which are most commonly referred to as emojis where people can just pick out a face best explaining the context of the message or the mood they are in and send! Sometimes emojis alone are enough to communicate a message and need no text based explanation.
In olden days, these systems didn’t exist and messaging platforms did not come equipped with the emoji menu so users had to make do with available symbols and characters on their phone’s keyboard. Many of these are still in use such as the famous colon and closed bracket to show a smile while other may be more complicated and can become hard to decipher these days especially when we are so dependent on emoji menu nowadays.
What are the Traditional Emoticons?
Now to understand and decipher the meaning of all the traditional emoticons we have compiled a list of all the famous emoticons which have been divided broadly into the two famous categories for it:
- The Western Style Emoticons
- The Asian Style Emoticons
Some emotions can be expressed using a wide variety of various symbols, numbers and characters. To be able to compose any of these emoticons all you have to do is find all the symbols on your device’s keyboard and compose them in the exact sequence as shown below in the list.
Many of these symbols are not used in the day to day conversations or text messages and we may even not know the meaning of many of these symbols. For instance the weird symbol ^ is known as the circumflex accent and sometimes recognized as an up arrow or a care or even a hart. Now did you know its actual name? There would only be a handful of people who would. It can be found right above the number 6 key on your keyboard. Many of the following emoticons will require you to comb through your keyboard to find the location of the symbol and your SHIFT key will be a major player here.
How to describe the Western Emoticons?
The following is the list of the emoticons that are counted under the category of Western Emoticons so have fun reading about them and go ahead practice them on your keyboard!
🙂 – the famous happy face
🙂 – another funnier version of a happy face
:^) – one more happy face
:] – a happy face with a different type of parenthesis
🙁 – the obvious sad face
😉 – the naughty and flirty wink face
:/ – the face when you are unsure on something
😛 – the funny tongue sticking out face
:O – the face you make when you are shocked
😐 – the blank expressionless face
:S – the state of confusion face
<3 – the forever famous heart symbol
</3 – when one wants to show a broken-hearted
- B) – the nerdy glasses face
8) – another glasses face
:} – to show somebody a mustache face
xD – the face to show that you are laughing hard
xP – for when you are utterly disgusted
X( – the face one makes when they are pouting or even agitated
:*( – the sad face while crying
:3 – when one wants to look cute
:-* – when you wish to give a kiss to someone on the cheek
>:O – the face that shows extreme anger
:X – when your lips are sealed
0:) – the angel with a halo on his head
O— – symbol for a lollipop
How to describe the Asian Style Emoticons?
Now it is time to learn the Asian Style Emoticons and their meanings:
(^_^) – the cute happy face
(‘_^) – the flirty eye wink face
(>_<) – the face one makes to show they are in pain
(<_>) – the face to show when you are sad or depressed
(-_-) – the face to show when one sighs
(._.) – the utterly depressed face
(-_-) zzz – the snoozy sleeping face
(-.o) – the face to show if one gets a black eye
(#_#) – the face to express if one is beaten-up
(x_x) – when you are so tired you want to show that you are dead
(o_O) – the confused face
($_$) – the cha-ching face when money talk comes in!
(*_*) – the face when you are so fascinated that your eyes are star-struck
(O-O) – the eye glasses face or the Harry Potter face
<(‘o’<) – the scary ghost face
(>’o’)> – another emoticon for the ghost
d^_^b – for when one is listening to music with headphones on
t(o_o)t – the hard to decipher flipping the bird emoticons
