# Emoticons

Emoticons are textual portrayals of a writer's moods or facial expressions in the form of icons. Originally, these icons consisted of ASCII art.

Emoticons can generally be divided into two groups: Western (mainly from America and Europe) or horizontal; Eastern or vertical (mainly from east Asia).

## Western

Western style emoticons are mostly written from left to right as though the head is rotated counter-clockwise 90 degrees.

- Smiley: :‑) :->
- Tongue-tied: :‑&
- Broken heart: <\3
- Rose: @}->--
- Fish: ><(((*>

## Eastern

Eastern emoticons generally are not rotated sideways. They first arose in Japan, where they are referred to as kaomoji.

- Troubled: (>_<)
- Sad: ("_")
- Cat: (=^·^=)
- Headphones: ((d[-_-]b))