Emoticons—Expanded List

The list of emoticons {Ref.} on this page is but a small sample of the hundreds (or perhaps even thousands) that have been devised.

About Emoticons and smileys

What is an emoticon? The word emoticon is a portmanteau word formed by combining the words emotion and icon. An emoticon is so named because it usually appears in the form of an image that conveys emotion.

A smiley (sometimes written smile) is an example of one type of emoticon {Ref.}. It takes this name because some of the most common emoticons are represented by a smiley face. Other emoticons resemble a smiley face with the smile turned upside down to show a frown. Still other facial expressions are encountered, such as wonderment or anger. The smiley is the most common form of emoticon.

Origin

Nobody is quite sure of the origin of the emoticon idea. It appears that the emoticon was invented by Scott E. Fahlman on 19 September 1982 in a message posted on Carnegie Mellon University bulletin board systems.

Visit Fahlman's web site for more information: click here.

How to recognize an emoticon when you see it

Emoticons appear in several forms and ways:

• As an abbreviation sometimes appearing in apps to express amusement, amazement, pleasure, approval, anger, or other emotions. Example: IMHO for “in my humble opinion.
• As an image (occasionally animated) produced in a computer program.
• As an image (occasionally animated) caused to appear by a computer program user or visitor to a web site. Example: the character sequence :­) inserted by a web site visitor may, if the web page has been so designed and the visitor has been invited to do so, cause a sideways smiley face to be presented on the page where the insertion point (cursor) is placed.

smileys and other emoticons

There are literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of emoticons, and the list is constantly growing and shifting. Most are not smileys.

To help control this population of wild animals, a certain set of commonly used emoticons has evolved by natural selection into an informal standard among computer users. This de facto standard is now in widespread use on web sites.

The most commonly used standard emoticons are a group of smiley images. A "standard" smiley consists of a specific smiley image that corresponds to a particular emotion and the character sequence that the program user or website visitor must type to produce that image (if the image is supported by the software).

Common "standard: smileys:

• :-)    Basic smiley face; used for humor and sometimes sarcasm
• :-(    Basic frowney face; used for sadness or anger
• ;-)    Half-smiley or winkey face; more often used for sarcasm
• :-/    Wry face; used for wry humor Computer Knowledge

A few additional examples of emoticons are shown in the list below.

For an expanded list, visit the web site of Computer Knowledge: Computer Knowledge (http://www.cknow.com/).

emoticon examples—Typed characters

              Invisible; Ghost; Helen Keller


  !*|:-()     Hit by a baseball bat
  !-(         Black eye
  !-|         Cylon Centurian; Popeye
  !.'v        Flat top (in profile)
  !8-)        Nerd with combed hair
  !:-)        Imaginative
  !o'v        Flat top (in profile); Dealer in Vegas
  !|:-( )     Brained by a baseball bat


  "._."       Sideways smiley (variation)
  "V"         Sideways smiley (variation)
  "v"         Sideways smiley (variation)


  #!^~/       Kissing and wearing shades (in profile)
  ##O##       Scary Spice
  #(,'%/)     Slept too long on one side with no time to wash hair
  #(:         Left-handed with a goatee; Left-handed with
              a really bad tie on
  #-)         Exhausted after partying all night; Lt. LaForge
  #/\/:)      Cantilevered toupe
  #:-)        Matted hair; Fur hat; Crewcut; Messy hair;
              "Everything you know is wrong"
  #:-0        Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
  #:-o        Mr. Bill; "Jesus built my hotrod";
              Someone with matted hair
  #:o+=       Betty Boop
  #:o\:o/:o\:o/:o||     Totem pole
  #B<>        Duck, with spike haircut & Ray-Bans, quacking
  #^%&*@$:-)  A schizophrenic

emoticon examples—Graphic characters

Emoticon Name/Emotion	Image	Character Sequence
Basic smiley face/humor, sarcasm		:)
Basic smiley with sunglasses/really happy, pleased, self-satisfied		8)
Very frowney face (with animated tears dripping from left eye)/strong displeasure, much sadness, weepy-eyed		:_(
Snaggle-tooth smiley with ear-to-ear grin/happy as blazes, tickled pink		:d
Basic frowney face/grumpy, unhappy, sad, feeling displeasure		:(
Smiley-frowney/mixed emotions, can't make up my mind, good and bad		:x
OH smiley (with animated, blinking eyes)/surprise, amazement, excitement, wonderment		:o
Raspberries smiley/contempt, disgust, bug off		:p
Winking smiley/I've got a secret, tongue in cheek		;)
Questioning smiley/I doubt it, are you sure?, need more info, what did you mean by that?		???

—policy— this emoticon list The list of emoticons used on the Internet grows and grows. Definitions and symbols vary. Electricka does not attempt to make this list complete or to keep this list up-to-date. She urges you to visit the Computer Knowledge web site or another site for more information.