If you see some Japanese animation, often you will notice that when
characters smile their eyes sort of close and approximate an upside-
down U shape. This shape is approximated basically in two ways:
^_^
n_n
Variations are also available:
^.^
n.n
^o^
^v^ (bird)
=^.^= (cat)
Often when these characters experience embarrassment, they will smile
a sort of strained smile and a sweat drop will appear on their head:
^_^;
More sweat drops means more embarrassment:
^_^;;
^_^;;;
^_^;;;;;;;;;;;;;; (if you feel you must)
Other emotions may also be expressed:
O_O (surprise)
-_- (sleepy, or exasperated)
-_-; (exasperated, as if saying "Mou...")
@_@ (bewildered, confused, shocked)
$_$ (greedy)
Y_Y (greedy - yen, you see)
*_* (this is supposed to be the eyes getting very big and watery,
sort of like awe...hard to explain, really...)
H_H This one is hard to explain. It basically means the person is
having lustful or sexual feelings, from the Japanese word
'ecchi', which basically means having to do with sex somehow,
and is actually a Japanese pronunciation of the letter 'H',
which is the first letter of an American reading of the Japanese
word 'hentai', which really means 'perverted or obscene'; 'ecchi'
has a sort of neutral connotation as opposed to the negative
connotation of 'hentai'. (Although American fans of this sort of
thing will sometimes identify themselves as 'hentai', not quite
grasping the connotation...or perhaps not caring...)
h_h Same thing
Other things:
^_- (wink)
_-_ (on the floor)
^_~ (alternate wink)
~_~ (feeling weird)
D_D (looking to the right)
>_> (same thing)
^_^ -_- ^_^ -_- ^_^ (wiggling eyebrows)
o_o (staring at someone, or feeling baffled somehow)
O_o (raising an eyebrow or looking oddly at someone)
And, of course, you can combine your favorite ways of making emoticons:
n_n;
=^.-=
@_@;
OvO
o.o
Et cetera...
John
In-Reply-To: 32FA640A.56D8@MIT.EDU