How do you perceive emoticons?

[child of lileth]

I just see them as representing different expressions. Like most are pretty obvious, and some I just kinda get an idea of what they meant.

 

[Abedeus]

I hate the ones with -, like . THEY MAKE MY BLOOD BOIL!

Also, I taste copper.

[sub]G...GHA! Geeehh....[/sub]

 

[Florion]

Well, they're supposed to look like facial expressions. So I link it with the facial expression I can most easily recognise it as. Only one I don't get is this one -> :L

I usually understand emoticons easily. Except :L . I really don't get what that is supposed to be! XD and are my most used one, 'cause I'm just generally happy person. Go on, check my posts on here. Many of them have some sort of emoticon.

EDIT:

Only one I don't get is this one -> :L

Effing Ninja-ing Ba***rd

i use and :') excessively, mainly because im usually taking the mick out of people

and i still don't get :L unless theres a special font it's supposed to be done in

OT: i get the majoirty of others, though i hate it when people use them out of context e.g. your dog died XD

Ready? I'm about to blow your mind.

:L
equals
minus part of the curve!

... and if someone already explained that while I was writing this post and your mind has already been blown well then... Nyuh! >:/

I really dislike it because it's so unclear (look how many people are confused here!). I'm not even sure where it came from - is it kind of like how in anime, people don't always draw the entire mouth?

Anyway, I love using emoticons whenever my spoken tone isn't necessarily clear. My english teacher told me not to use them because if you have to use emoticons, then your words aren't clear enough, but really, I can also use clear, emotional words, and most people still don't read them properly because they can't read (or possibly because I'm a bad writer, which would be plausible for most self-assured people on the internet). So in a casual setting, I feel it's safer to use emoticons.

I abuse and <3 and a lot. Because it sucks when the other person thinks you are being stiff when you are actually laughing your head off.

 

[Tallim]

I hate the ones with -, like . THEY MAKE MY BLOOD BOIL!

Also, I taste copper.

[sub]G...GHA! Geeehh....[/sub]

Me too! I wonder why the addition of the nose drives me crazy. To me it looks horrible. I think it's because my brain likes an emoticon to be 2 characters long, it's used to that and gets a bit confused if it's longer.

 

[deadguynotyetburied]

I majored in English and began my internet life with a seriously snobby knee-jerk reaction to emoticons, but having spent enough time on line and seen enough idiotic arguments started because someone attributed an insulting tone to remarks that were meant in jest, I've come to appreciate them. I admit it would help if I could find the emoticon for "don't get your panties in a wad" but that might take more than a few keystrokes.

 

[orangebandguy]

I hate them, especially if people replace all their words with emotes.

Can barely make out what people say sometimes.

 

[SomethingUnrelated]

Ready? I'm about to blow your mind.

:L
equals
minus part of the curve!

... and if someone already explained that while I was writing this post and your mind has already been blown well then... Nyuh! >:/

I really dislike it because it's so unclear (look how many people are confused here!). I'm not even sure where it came from - is it kind of like how in anime, people don't always draw the entire mouth?

Yea, but... despite the fact that you have completely blown my mind with that explanation... It still doesn't show how ':L' means 'laughing face'. Unless I'm being reeeeally dense.

 

[Mydnyght]

(* studies :L *)

Hmm, looks like that face is....drooling.

Anyway, if people wanna use emoticons, fine by me.
I use them too....just not the sideways-looking ones.
No, the emoticons I use are ones like these: ^_^ ^_- >_< T-T T^T

 

[Tharwen]

I read them in my head.

XP - expee
XD - exdee
- [nothing]
- mmpee
- mmdee

I don't know why. I still interpret them as they generally are intended though.

 

[Scde2]

I use "emo" emoticons because...well...
anyways here are some of them.

//_^ Happy/laughing

//_- Staring

//_< Angry

//_~ Tired

//_O' Shocked/Suprised

//_; Sad

And use regular emoticons when these can't be used in a certain instance.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

The fact that some of them lack universally-accepted definitions can cause me to misread the tone of a lot of messages that get sent my way. For some, means "joking", others use it to denote a sarcastic statement or to show disapproval. Being a cynic by nature, I always assume someone is making a derisive comment towards me whenever it ends in . Can lead to completely unnecessary tension in a conversation. I'd really prefer that people be overly verbose in an effort to set the context of a sentence than to abbreviate it with a nebulous symbol.

It's like if "cactus in anus" became a common expression and was abbreviated "CIA", and then you're having a conversation with someone and they say "hey, back in a sec, gotta deal with the CIA" when a flower van parks across the street from their house for an abnormally long amount of time. Only you don't know about the van. And you don't want to ask.

Okay, so it's an imperfect metaphor.

EDIT: Come to think of it, it's an imperfect simile. Shit.

 

[kurupt87]

Hmm, interesting, I'm gonna try to give words to how I read them myself. I tend not to use them but I can read them, or think I can at any rate.

- happy, friendly
- joke-happy, laugh-happy
=D - same as above but more childish
- cheeky joker
- cheeky/flirty joker
XD - d'oh-joke-happy, facepalm type humour
0.o - utterly confused, "I have no idea, and cannot believe, that happened"
>..> <.< - I think this means looking left and right to check if anyone is around, in other words being cautious and careful
:L - I don't know about this one either, but I like the description @Allan53 gave about a stroke victim, made me chuckle.

Edit: Sp

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I use XD and as taunts on Left 4 Dead. If I do something awesome, the other team will get a quick and then I start back up. But that is the only time I use them.

And when I see XD in places where it's not the emoticon, I tend to think of it as if it were... if you get what I'm trying to say...

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

Everyone uses that now and tells me it's a laughing face. Seriously?.

:L

:L

I don't know why, but :L is the default for a laughing face on MSN Messenger. I have no other explanations behind it.

As for the OP, I read standard ones as facial expressions, but I insist on thinking of XD as "Ex-Dee" for some reason.

 

[Klarinette]

I hate the :3 one. I think that's because I hate anime, though, and that's where it's from. I remember back before I knew that, though, I thought it was just an animal face, and it was okay. *sigh*

"XP" gets me sometimes. Can't help but think Windows XP.

 

[Jonluw]

No, the emoticons I use are ones like these: ^_^ ^_- >_< T-T T^T

These "T" emoticons have bugged me for a while.

Are the horizontal lines supposed to be the eyes, with the vertical lines being tears, or are the vertical lines the eyes, and the horizontal lines eyebrows?

 

[War Penguin]

I don't mind emoticons. They're okay. I use a few.
to show that I'm happy and to show that I'm either making a joke or a really dumb statement...

I don't use them that much anymore though. I think they're fine for just fun or casual conversations.

 

[Mydnyght]

No, the emoticons I use are ones like these: ^_^ ^_- >_< T-T T^T

These "T" emoticons have bugged me for a while.

Are the horizontal lines supposed to be the eyes, with the vertical lines being tears, or are the vertical lines the eyes, and the horizontal lines eyebrows?

It's the former if you ask me; I interpret "T-T" as a crying face.
I will admit... "T^T" looks bad with certain fonts such as Comic Sans.

 

[Ciarang]

Well, they're supposed to look like facial expressions. So I link it with the facial expression I can most easily recognise it as. Only one I don't get is this one -> :L

It's a laughing face on MSN, I find it annoying when people use shortcuts from there when they're not on it. =/