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))

surprised: (°-°)