Basic Emoticons

[ysabetwordsmith]

There are emoticons for all kinds of feelings and other situations.  It occurred to me that, as people spend more time communicating through text media, part of what's driving the emoticon boom is a need to express at least the basic emotions.  So that got me wondering if there are, in fact, emoticons for all of those.  Learn them and you have the primary colors of the human heart.

1) Anger
>:(   
>_<

2) Fear
O_O 
<8-O

3) Disgust
:P
>:p

4) Contempt
:/
:S
0_o

5) Joy
:)
:D
^_^

6) Sadness
:(
:'(

7) Surprise
:O
8-0

Comments

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

ß^) Not blinded by science, wearing safety goggles.

[technoshaman]

hee hee hee! "She Blinded Me With Science" was (is?) a traditional Georgia Tech pep band song...

One thing I'm enjoying lately is Slack, a professional-grade chat-room service... the emoji _run the gamut_. Animated teddybear hugs, nodding faces, happydances that actually dance, kabooms that kaboom... and if you're an admin, you can add to your heart's content.

There is even a code growing up around the emoji. Squirrel is for "ship it", Raccoon is for "please move this to a different channel", Velociraptor is for "can we sic a bunch of 'raptors on whoever just made our friend upset?" Green tick mark is "This has my formal approval." "Dumpster fire" ... well, that's pretty obvious. So is "Picard facepalm."


If we're not careful we're going to convert back to hieroglyphics...

Picard, his face palmed. :)

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> If we're not careful we're going to convert back to hieroglyphics... <<

They have their uses.

>> Picard, his face palmed. :) <<

<3

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

I can report that for all its other issues, tumblr does demonstrate how some users have a fine repertoire of media to deploy as responses.

They have a Clint Barton emoji?

[technoshaman]

Not by default, they don't, but _you can add one_..

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

I was referring to the dumpster fire.

[technoshaman]

LOLOL!

[mirrorofsmoke]

*Screech* Raccoon? Oh man I wanna use this chat. :P

[stardreamer]

Eyeroll:
0_o

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

That works. I tend to use that one for "bemused and disapproving."

[satsuma]

Since there's such a large variety of emoji and emoticons, which ones people use can also serve a second purpose of serving as internet mannerisms to convey identity (this isn't quite the right word?), somewhat like how your username/profile picture/blog theme (online appearance, basically) could be considered analogous to your offline choices with clothing and grooming

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's a good point.

[lexicalcrow]

This is basically the set I grew up using online, though I would use XP or DX or D: for disgust, and maybe -_- for contempt. I reserve :P for when I'm joking or not being serious. I've never grokked emojis at all and have nfi how to read them, but I always know how to read text-based emoticons.

[corvi]

I agree about :P being for silliness.

[terrycloth]

:6 is the closer one for disgust. :P is amusement, yeah.

[pronker]

These are intriguing! >_< means anger? I thought it was a funny little eye squint of mild amusement, and that :S was a moue of rueful … acknowledgement, or something. Clearly I am not up to snuff here! *takes notes*

[fyreharper]

I don't use >_< for angry either! In my case that corresponds to a wince; facepalm would be a near equivalent - so more like sympathy/'that pun was terrible'/etc. Basically my use of emoticons generally corresponds to what my face is doing (or what my face would be doing if the other person could see it). With the slight exception of :p which I use to denote amusement/light tone even if I wouldn't actually be sticking my tongue out.

[lb_lee]

I always thought O_o was confused surprise!

--Sneak

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

It can be. Once you get outside the most common and obvious ones like :) and :( then they're more open to interpretation. We don't have exact marks for some things, and most emoticons omit some facial features. That makes them harder to read.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

The ones in 4 weren't contempt, they were sort of like Kermit curling his face into 'I have to fix that, how did I get myself into being in charge?'

EDIT:How much would Steve 'get' the Muppet Show? So much. Might make him sad too.

^5 >^.^< >o< *\o/*

[mirrorofsmoke]

We use :/ for confusion, most of the time.

[pantha]

How interesting. I tend to use many of these differently, too.

1) Anger
>:( Yes, but I don't use this one myself.
>_< Nope, to me this is "gah" or perhaps "doh" (i.e. frustration).

2) Fear
O_O I use this all the time, but to mean "WTF?" or "eh?" or *blinks in astonishment*
<8-O I don't use or see this one.

3) Disgust
:P I use this one to mean "joking" / "being silly".
>:p I don't use or see this one.

4) Contempt
:/ I rarely see and don't use this one.
:S I don't use or see this one.
0_o If I saw this I'd read it like O_o or O_O or similar - i.e. "WTF?" or "eh?"

5) Joy
:) Yup.
:D Yup, also - indicating more joy than :)
^_^ This is the one I use most for this.

6) Sadness
:( Yup.
:'( I don't use this one but occasionally see it.

7) Surprise
:O Yup.
8-0 I don't see or use this one.

I also use XD to mean "laughing".
Oh, and <3 which is "love" obvs.

[fyreharper]

Ditto most of this. I do use :-/ sometimes - as I commented above, most of my emoticon use corresponds to what my face is doing (or would be doing if visible), so :-/ is the face that kind of feels like one side of my mouth goes up and the other goes down? It is definitely not contempt. The verbal version of one possible use-scenario might approximate 'that sucks for you and that makes me sad', but there are other uses also.

I've never been entirely certain how to read :S