It's no secret that in the modern world there is no person who would not know what a smiley face is. Perhaps, many will be interested in how these funny characters were born. And for sure decoding of emoticons will be interesting, what exactly they mean.
What is a smiley?
Let's start with the definition itself. From English, smiley translates as "smiling." Thus, emoticons are stylized, schematic images of a smiling person. They are especially popular in Internet correspondence and SMS messages.
Traditionally, a smiley looks like a yellow circle, inside of which there are dotted eyes and a black arc denoting a mouth. Its computer version looks almost the same. The only difference is the presence of a hyphen, which is located between the eyes and mouth and denotes the nose. True, in recent years, an abbreviated form has been used quite often, without a dash in the middle. Today, the meaning of emoticons depends on the location of the arc and many other nuances.
When did the emoticons appear?
Most sources claim that the smiley was first drawn by Harvey Bell for one of the insurance companies. The company wanted their logo to be not only memorable, but also inspire confidence in those who want to use the services of the company. For this logo, the artist received a fee of $ 50. Then many customers wondered: what do the emoticons on the badges of the employees of the company mean?
But the real birthday of this funny sign is September 19, 1982. It was then that Scott Falman proposed introducing a new symbol into the computer vocabulary. The professor proposed to indicate a smile with a colon, a hyphen, and a closing parenthesis. Such a designation, according to scientists, was supposed to show that the message is humorous in nature and should not be taken seriously. So there was his computer version.
Why do you need emoticons?
Having learned how emoticons appeared, you probably wondered why they were needed? Have you ever asked yourself the question, what does a regular conversation consist of? Is it only from words? Of course not. In communication we take into account not only words, but also intonation, gestures, and especially the facial expressions of the speaker.
But how to convey all this in correspondence, to make it not so dry? Show another person that you are sad or laughing, crying or joking? In fact, nothing. Unless using emoticons.
We need these funny signs in order to convey our feelings and sensations when the interlocutors do not see each other. Using them, you do not need to write long explanations, just write or draw a smiley, and everything becomes clear. They replace us with intonation and facial expressions, and it has become absolutely necessary to use them when communicating on the Internet. If you and your interlocutor are aware of what emoticons mean, then the conversation becomes much brighter and more interesting.
Rules for using emoticons
It would seem that the use of smiles does not require the author to know any rules. But is it? Let's take a look at some of the tips from the regulars of the Internet.
- First of all, they note that you can not use emoticons without “eyes”. That is, you should write: :), and not just).
- Secondly, you should not use multiple brackets. This may indicate the presence of several chins in a person.
- Thirdly, it is noted that the “nose” part, that is, the dash, can always be skipped.
- Fourth, emoticons themselves cannot be sculpted close to the text. A space should be made between the last word and the “smile”.
- In addition, it replaces the dot, so you should not think about putting a punctuation mark after the emoticon or before it.
- Also, many advise to refrain from using rare and obscure smiles. Not everyone can understand their meaning.
- You should also not use a lot of monotonous "smiles" at the end of a sentence or message. Enough and one or two. You should know the measure even in the expression of emotions.
Emoticons and their decoding
Probably, each of us is interested in the meaning of symbols to indicate feelings. After all, knowing what emoticons mean, we can use them correctly. Here are a few examples:
- :-) :) - these two emoticons indicate a smile;
- :( :-( - used to indicate sadness;
- =) = -) - these combinations express joy;
- :>: -> - this is how they grin or giggle on the Internet;
- :}: -} - and this is how sarcasm is expressed;
- ;) ;-) - if you want to wink to the interlocutor, select one of these options;
- : -F - with the help of this smile you can kiss the person you are talking to;
- : S: - S - expresses embarrassment;
- > :( - with the help of these combinations anger is expressed;
- ~: 0 - these smiles express horror;
- @ -> --- - this is a rose that you can give to your interlocutor.
Of course, this is not a complete list of emoticons used. There are a lot of them, some of them are difficult to understand without knowing their decryption. But in this article we have given the most common.
Well, now you know what emoticons mean and how to use them correctly. You know the history of their occurrence, although it should be noted that almost every second American ascribes to himself the idea of creating emoticons. But we gave the most reliable and well-known versions. You also learned how common emoticons are deciphered. We hope this article has been helpful to you.