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20 feb 08 Are you qualified as a Wikipedia source? (o.O);; allow me to begin by saying that i appreciate your horizontal ASCII-face, with its double sweat streams and differently-sized eyes. it's difficult to codify the meanings of smileys (smileys, ASCII faces, emoticons -- same thing), because frankly they mean different things to different people, and mean different things in different contexts. there are lots of web pages claiming to be ASCII face rosetta stones. it's a tempting topic to write about -- i did it once, years ago. i even went so far as to put out different sets of eyes, eyebrows, and mouths, and attempted at an "ASCII face grammar", which didn't work due to both common exceptions and numerous nonensical combinations. but the fact is that, like facial expressions, intended (and perceived) meaning of smilies varies. the best way to think of smilies is as little cartoon puppets -- they're characters that are being put into service by a writer/speaker to augment pure text. in this case -- a head with differently-sized eyes, a dot nose, no mouth, and copious sweat dripping down his left side -- the puppeteer wanted to communicate to me that he's worried that i might not be qualified. without further ado: These are the ASCII faces that I use, with varying degree of frequency and in no particular order. there are many more (you can make them up on the spot), and many more guides on how to use them. all are wrong, including this one. just like real facial expressions, their meanings are open to interpretation. But anyway: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- O_____O wide-eyed. surprise, shock, or horror, perhaps with the implication that there was something to look at. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- O_____o one eye differently-sized than another. again, imagine a cartoon face drawn like this. what does this communicate to you? if someone says "i just dressed my pet toad in doll clothes and let him crawl around on my naked body", you might react with O_________o a variation is o_______. "taken aback", or "incredulous", maybe, if you're looking for a word. somewhat interchangeable with O__O :O and >___< , but what here isn't interchangable? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ^______^ japanese-style smiley. i use it as a satisfied smile -- contentment, self-assuredness, etc. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- x______x dead. in all of these horizontal (japanese-style) faces, i use the wideness of the mouth to indicate the strength of the emotion expressed. very wide = very dead. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- >___< frustration, disgust, exasperation, or something completely different -- the cartoon face is squinching his eyes shut as hard as he can. when might this happen? this is a useful one, because it's so variable. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- >.> this is a fairly obvious one: "sneaky" or "secretive". someone with narrow, shifty eyes. it can also go the other way <.< for some reason i usually make this one with a dot nose instead of a mouth :shrug: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- :| blank. i use it for "stunned", sometimes. or, just the fun of communicating no reaction at all. "not smiling" could also be an interpretation; ie, you insult someone, and they react with this face. try .__. for an interesting horizontal variant. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- :) complex beyond all codification. imagine the breadth of instances which might prompt a smile. sometimes it's used almost like a winkie -- to add "i'm being nice about it", or "it's all in good fun" to something that might otherwise be interpreted as an affront. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- :] a fake smile. one other person i talked to uses it to mean "cute smile", and then told me this is the same thing. ie, not a naturally-occuring smile. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- :( sad. :'( for really sad. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- :D joyous, a less restrained and complacent version of :) (when :) is used simply to mean "happy"; see above). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- :[ sorta disgusted or dissappointed. i'm putting these down as they come to me, and i'm sure i'm forgetting some. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- :/ mildly upset or uneasy ----------------------------------------------------------------------- :> an impish smile. not exactly the same as the winkie, which means, fairly rigidly, "do not take this seriously". instead, this face simply means "i am impish". ie, what i said might be a joke, or a prank, or intended to annoy, or whatever. it serves as a good reaction to a joke or funny comment. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- X( arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. pretty much the same thing as >______< , although maybe a bit more grave (note the sad mouth). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- X) smug or satisfied. i barely use this one. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- :O shock. more shocked than O____O, i'd say. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- >:| annoyance. you can also do anger >:O or insane rage >%(. a frown or an open mouth will do. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ;) i rarely use the winkie, because to me it's crass and outdated. also, :> means almost the same thing to me, and i use it a lot, even though many people probably don't distinguish it from :) but the winkie is arguably the most useful -- one of the biggest problems over email and chat, where people are expressing themselves more as they would during speech than in writing, is that sarcasm and jocularity aren't communicable. so, if someone says "you should kill yourself", it's going to be taken differently than "you should kill yourself ;)" i don't use them because part of the fun of sarcasm and jocularity is that they're posing as honesty, and its up to the reader/listener to use his wit to work this out. winking ruins the game. also, who cares what other people think? winkies can be dreadfully overused; it becomes tiresome to receive a constant barrage of enforced cleverness. and, of course, they can be taken as license to say anything you want. strip away all social graces and tact, and insult people at will -- just so long as there's a ;) following the statement. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- %) googly eyes. you can pair these up with any mouth, but i most often do it with a smile. it adds "crazy" to any vertical (western-style) face. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- it's all up in the air, really. the submitter used beads of sweat to connote anxiety -- this is fine, but i just don't happen to do it. he also gave his face a framed head with parentheses. also fine. i understood the supplement to his prose perfectly well (i think). it's a murky world, the one of chat and email smileys. many people don't use them at all :shrug: 1. there was a streaker today at home depot O_______O 2. hilary won the nomination :[ 3. i can't get this @!$# screwdriver to turn >____< 4. my mom told me i'm adopted :O 5. my GOOG dividends paid off sumpin' fierce this quarter ^___________^ 6. i didn't pay for my hotdog at 7-11 :> 7. i plan not to pay for my hotdog at 7-11 >.> 8. i set my coffee down on the file cabinet, and someone stole it >:| etc but yes -- i'm qualified as as wikipedia source because i personally observed the results of the experiment i describe, to which wikipedia refers as evidence for a claim ("you can improve the reception of your ipod FM transmitter by removing your car antenna"). if you don't believe me, try it. |
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