Emoticon facts for kids

An emoticon is a written symbol, often made from a few punctuation marks, that shows how someone is feeling or what their face looks like. Think of a smile ":-)", a wink ";-)", or a frown ":(". Emoticons help you understand the mood of a message, making plain text more fun to read. Many different emoticons have been created over time.

The word "emoticon" comes from combining the English words emotion (or emote) and icon. On websites, in instant messaging apps, and in online games, text emoticons often turn into small pictures automatically. These pictures are also called emoticons. Some very complex emoticons, especially from Japan, are called kaomoji.

People have used symbols like emoticons since the 1800s, often in funny writing. In 1912, a "snigger point" (like a smile) was shown as "\___/!" using a typewriter. Digital emoticons, like the ones we use today, first appeared in an E-mail in 1982.

History of Emoticons

Early Emoticons

Emoticons in the Puck magazine from 1881.

In 1857, a guide for telegraph operators mentioned using the number 73 in Morse code to mean "love and kisses." Later, 88 was used for the same meaning.

An old paper from 1862 shows a speech by Abraham Lincoln with a ";)" (which looks like a winky-face). People still wonder if it was a mistake, a real punctuation mark, or an early emoticon.

In 1881, the U.S. magazine Puck printed some emoticons made from typewriter symbols. In 1912, writer Ambrose Bierce described a "snigger point" as "\___/!" which looked like a smiling mouth.

In the 1940s, fans of science fiction also started using emoticons.

The Smiley Face

In 1963, artist Harvey Ball created the famous "smiley face" – a yellow button with two black dots for eyes and a curved line for a mouth. This simple smiley probably inspired many emoticons we see today.

In 1969, writer Vladimir Nabokov said he wished there was a special symbol for a smile, like a curved bracket, to use in writing.

Emoticons Before 1980

By the early 1970s, people using teletype machines and the PLATO System were already using symbols to show feelings. These early digital systems had limited keys, so users created simple ways to express themselves.

In 1979, Kevin Mackenzie suggested using -) on an early internet mailing list called ARPANET. He meant it to show "tongue-in-cheek," where the hyphen was a tongue. Others used :-) for the same idea, with the colon as teeth.

The Birth of :-) and :-(

The first person to officially suggest using :-) and :-( to show emotion was Scott Fahlman. He posted his idea on a computer science message board at Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S. on September 19, 1982.

He wrote: "I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:

-)

Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use

-( "

Within a few months, these emoticons spread quickly across the early Internet (ARPANET) and other computer networks. Many people then started creating their own variations.

Emoticons Become Pictures

Over time, on websites, in instant messaging apps, and in online games, text emoticons like :-) often automatically changed into small pictures. These pictures also became known as "emoticons."

At first, these image emoticons were simple. But they grew more complex, and now you can often choose from hundreds of different pictures using a menu. Some graphical emoticons don't even look like faces; for example, a picture of a guitar might mean "music." Some messaging apps even play a sound when you receive certain emoticons.

Many apps use text codes, like :dance: or (dance), which then turn into a picture of someone dancing.

Western Style Emoticons

In Western cultures, emoticons are usually read from left to right, just like words. This means the eyes are on the left, followed by the nose and mouth. To see them easily, you can tilt your head to your left shoulder.

Common Western Examples

Basic emoticons are pretty similar, but they can change. You might see them rotated or without a hyphen (nose).

• :) or :-) means happy.
• :(( means very sad or crying.
• :"> means blushing.
• ;) means a wink.
• :D means a big grin.
• :P means sticking out your tongue (for silliness or disgust).
• <3 means a heart.
• </3 means a broken heart.
• :3 means a cute smile.

Sometimes, an equal sign = is used for the eyes instead of a colon :, like =). The hyphen (nose) is often left out, so :) is very common. People also swap similar-looking characters, like o, O, and 0 for eyes or mouths.

In some countries, certain emoticons are more popular because of keyboard layouts. For example, =) is common in Scandinavia because the = and ) keys are next to each other.

Asian Style Emoticons

People in East Asia made popular a different style of emoticons that you can understand without tilting your head. This style first appeared in Japan in 1986.

These emoticons often look like (*_*). The asterisks * are the eyes, the underscore _ is the mouth, and the parentheses () show the face outline. Studies have shown that people in East Asia focus on the eyes when reading facial expressions. This is why their emoticons put more emphasis on the eyes, while Western emoticons focus more on the mouth.

Different feelings are shown by changing the eye characters. For example, T can mean crying or sadness (T_T). Stress might be (x_x), and nervousness could be (-_-;), where the semicolon shows sweat from anxiety. Repeating /// like (///) can mean blushing.

Sometimes, the mouth or nose is left out, like (^^). The parentheses can also be replaced with curly brackets, like {^_^}, or left out completely, like ^^ or >.<. A quotation mark ", apostrophe ', or semicolon ; can be added to show worry or embarrassment, like a sweat drop in anime.

Common Eastern Examples

Korean Style Emoticons

In South Korea, emoticons using Korean Hangul letters are also popular. They are similar to Japanese ones but use Korean letters for parts of the face. For example, ㅅ or ㅂ can be the mouth/nose, and ㅇ, ㅎ, ㅍ can be the eyes. Examples include ㅇㅅㅇ, ㅇㅂㅇ, -ㅅ-, ㅡㅡ.

Vowel letters like ㅜ and ㅠ can show crying, like ㅜ_ㅜ or ㅠ_ㅠ. Semicolons are often added for embarrassment, like ㅡㅡ;;;;. Sometimes, other characters are added to show hands, like -ㅅ-a (scratching head) or 'ㅅ'b (Thumbs up).

Letters like ㅎ and ㅋ are used in Korean internet slang to show laughter. So, emoticons using these letters for eyes, like ㅎ_ㅎ, can mean a laughing face.

East Asian Style in the West

English-speaking anime fans started using East Asian emoticons that could be made with standard keyboard characters. These are sometimes called "anime style" emoticons. They are now used in online games, instant messaging, and other places.

Emoticons like <(^.^)> or <(o_o<), which include parentheses, a mouth or nose, and arms (like < or >), are sometimes called "Kirbies" because they look like the Nintendo character Kirby. In English, the parentheses are often removed, and the underscore for the mouth might be stretched to show more emotion, like ^__________^ for very happy.

Mixed Styles

Because people see both Western and East Asian emoticons online, new mixed styles have appeared. These often use an upright view and only letters and common punctuation marks. Emoticons like -O-, -3-, ;_;, T_T, and :> can show complex feelings.

Characters are sometimes added to show an anime-style sweat drop, like ^_^' or !>_<!. The equal sign = can also be used for closed, anime-like eyes, such as =0= or =w=.

In Brazil, people sometimes add accent marks to show eyebrows, like ò_ó or ó_ò. They might also use > instead of = or :, like >D or >:P.

Posture Emoticons

Orz

Orz (also seen as Or2, on_, OTZ, OTL) is a Japanese emoticon that looks like a person kneeling or bowing. The o is the head, the r is the arms and part of the body, and the z is the rest of the body and legs. This simple drawing often shows feelings of failure or despair. It can also show great admiration, sometimes in a funny way.

It first appeared in late 2002 on a Japanese website forum. Someone typed "＿|￣|○" to show a cable, but others thought it looked like a kneeling person, and it became popular. By 2005, Orz had become a big trend, with blogs named after it.

Orz is different from m(_ _)m, which means an apology.

Multimedia Emoticons

An emotisound is a short sound played when you receive a message, like an instant message or email. The sound is meant to show the feeling behind the message.

Some services combine emoticons with music players. In 2004, the chat app Trillian added "emotiblips," which let users send short video and voice clips like emoticons.

In 2008, a tool called FunIcons was created. It lets users make short animated clips that they can email or share.

Images for kids

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  Examples of kaomoji smileys

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  Cover of the French magazine Le Charivari, text of a legal ruling against it in the shape of a pear, 1834.

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  Transcript of a speech by Abraham Lincoln in 1862

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  Kaomoji on a Japanese NTT Docomo mobile phone

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  A Kaomoji painting in Japan

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  The Japanese custom of dogeza

See also

In Spanish: Emoticono para niños