Emoticons reach 25 year milestone :-)

[spazntwitch]

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Happy Birthday emoticons While expressing emotion through text is nothing new, one particular way of expressing emotion has reached a milestone.

Emoticons, those sideways smiley or frowney face on your emails or text messages, are now 25 years old. The happy, sad, frownies, laughing, or even cheerleading faces can be seen all over the internet and all over cell phones.

The emoticon has become much more than something the kids do after school; the little guys seem to have found their way into the workforce too.

Over the past 25 years emoticons have gained popularity through email, instant messages and text messages, now they are being used to tell businessmen that deals are being killed or even in some cases, to end relationships.

"I work with graduate students at the university who are significantly younger than I am,” Mark Cantor said. “I am just trying to communicate with them."

Here's a list of several emoticons and their meanings.

HAPPY, SMILING, LAUGHING
smiling; agreeing
:-D laughing
|-) hee hee
|-D ho ho
:-> hey hey
;-) so happy, I'm crying
:'-) crying with joy
\~/ full glass; my glass is full

TEASING, MISCHIEVOUS
;-) winking; just kidding
'-) winking; just kidding
;-> devilish wink
:*) clowning
:-T keeping a straight face

AFFIRMING, SUPPORTING
:^D "Great! I like it!"
8-] "Wow, maaan"
:-o "Wow!"
^5 high five
^ thumbs up
): bandaid; offering help or support

UNHAPPY, SAD
:-( frowning; boo hoo
sad
:-< really sad
:-c really unhappy
:-C really bummed
&-| tearful
:' crying
:'-( crying and really sad
:-| grim
:[ really down
:-[ pouting
\_/ "my glass is empty"

ANGRY, SARCASTIC
>:-< angry
:-|| angry
:-@ screaming
:-V shouting
:-r sticking tongue out
>:-< absolutely livid!!
:-, smirk
nyahhhh!
:-> bitingly sarcastic

TRYING TO COMMUNICATE
:-& tonguetied
:-S incoherent
:-\ undecided
:- I "hmmm..."
:-, "hmmm "
:-# "My lips are sealed"
:-X "My lips are sealed"
:-Y a quiet aside
:-" pursing lips
:-W speaking with forked tongue
) can't stop talking

FEELING STUPID OR TIRED
:~/ mixed up
%-) braindead
I egghead
<:-I dunce
= hosehead
:-] smiling blockhead
:-[ un-smiling blockhead
|-O yawning
|-I asleep
:-6 exhausted; wipeout

SURPRISED, INCREDULOUS, SKEPTICAL
:> What?
What?
:Q What?
:-o "uhh oh!" OR surprise
;-) sardonic incredulity
:O shocked
8-| eyes wide with surprise
:-/ skeptical
8-O "Omigod!!"
:-C just totally unbelieving
|-{ "Good Grief!" (Charlie Brown)

HUGS AND KISSES
: * kisses
:-X a big wet kiss!
:-x kiss kiss
:-{} blowing a kiss
[] hugs
(( )):** hugs and kisses
((((name)))) hug

MISCELLANEOUS
:-* Oops!
:-I indifferent
\-o bored
tongue hanging out in anticipation
O angelic; being an angel (at heart, at least)

Emoticon list from windweaver.com

 

[cybermom]

ya know i was just thinking last night about emoticons and wondering how the heck they work..and who makes them..i mean i type in some random text and get a smiley???? who comes up w/the new ones and programs them in?? how come they work in more then one place??? how do I know where they work and where they don't????

are these really dumb and uncomputer savey questions???? I just lay in bed wondering these types of things. Speaking of which...good night.

|-O

see? How come the yawing one didn't work for me????

 

[LiveSquid]

ya know i was just thinking last night about emoticons and wondering how the heck they work..and who makes them..i mean i type in some random text and get a smiley???? who comes up w/the new ones and programs them in?? how come they work in more then one place??? how do I know where they work and where they don't????

are these really dumb and uncomputer savey questions???? I just lay in bed wondering these types of things. Speaking of which...good night.

|-O

see? How come the yawing one didn't work for me????

It depends on the forum. The admin will seek out the smilies, load in the graphics, and decide what should be typed to affect the placement of each one. Not all forums have the same ones, and its all up to the admin.

Anyone can make them, but again its up to the admin of the forums to find them, and if they like them they can use them.

Dumb, no. Unsavvy, a little. lol

And the yawn didnt work because it wasnt programmed in for "|-O" to correspond to any graphic in this forum. But emoticons also count when theyre just the colon-parenthesis, or what have you. Thats ow emoticons began. The graphical 'smilies' are a later evolution.

 

[cybermom]

Thanks squid! I am definitely unsavvy...you should see me try and work my i-pod!