The unofficial guide to smiley faces.
infolab.iupui.edu
Like prehistoric cave dwellers, the devotees of electronic
bulletin-boards and "e-mail" have struggled to find a new way to
express themselves. Wall painting would not work. Words, it seems, are
not enough. Inarticulate sounds cannot be displayed on screens. To
make their messages feel more like personal contact, they have hit on
using the punctuation marks on an ordinaty keyboard in order to pull
faces at each other. To read these signs, you have to put your head on
your left shoulder.
The basic unit is:
:-)
the "smiley", a standard smiling face. In context, this can mean "I'm
happy to hear from you", or other pleasantries. The smiley can also
wink:
;-)
or frown:
:-(
among other things. The language can express many things about the
user's appearance:
8-) :-{) 8:-) :-)-8 :-Q @:-)
These signs mean, respectively, that the user wears sunglasses, has a
moustache, is a little girl, is a big girl, smokes, wears a turban.
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