People smile differently here.

[Steve Bildermann]

Ok so I'm slow but it wasn't until I read this that it dawned on me how different my wifes email (containing emoticons) to me was.

Just shows you 'something new everyday' (^_^)

In Japan the Smileys(Emoticons) grew differently from U.S.A, now they have various kinds.

http://club.pep.ne.jp/~hiroette/en/facemarks/body.html

[gomichild]

Very cute (^^)

[Taro Toporific]

HAPPY IN THE EAST ( -- ) OR SMILING :-) IN THE WEST

Ok so I'm slow but it wasn't until I read this that it dawned on me how different my wifes email (containing emoticons) to me was.

Just shows you 'something new everyday' (^_^)

Hey, it was sometime until the whole yoko-moji/tatemoji emoticon concept dawned on me too. That is, Japanese "smileys" (Emoticons) are read vertically like this: (-_-) zzz... In contrast, Western emoticons are read horizontally ]HAPPY IN THE EAST ( -- ) OR SMILING :-) IN THE WEST

The basic smiley in Japan, ( -- )is much easier to recognize as a face than the Western version. But since the mouth doesn't curl upward (there is no character on the keyboard that can do that), the Japanese smiley is somewhat harder to understand without knowing the context.

'It's the same with Noh masks,' said Miho Ueda, head of the Internet division at Isenet, a networking company, referring to the masks with blank expressions used in a traditional form of Japanese drama. 'They may appear expressionless to beginners, but they can be full of emotion if you understand.'

Other emoticons are more clearly specific to Japanese culture. The girl's smile, ( . ), with a dot for the mouth, reflects the fact that it is still considered impolite for women to bare their teeth in a grin, to the extent that some women still cover their mouths with their hand when they laugh. The 'banzai' smiley, written ( -- )/ or sometimes ( o )/, shows a character with arms raised in a traditional cheer.

...Experts familiar with on-line services in both Japan and the United States say the Japanese use the face marks more often than Westerners. This could because the Japanese are used to looking at pictograms, since their written language is based on such characters.

It could also reflect the fact that even when they are off line, Japanese people do not express everything clearly in words. They tend to speak in a vague manner, relying on facial expressions and the other person's understanding of the context to get the idea across.

----The New York Times, Monday Aug 12, 1996[/quote]

[bluepxl]

heh, i have always smiled this way ^_^ or whatever because i don't like the idea of a face being to the side :-)... it just doesn't make sense to me to read this way and see a face hanging to the side in a compeltely different direction. i've always found it annoying. but often times i find myself using those american emoticons when talking to some people because they will just be confused too much with (^o^) or whatever. people always ask me what they are. seems obvious to me ^_-

also i have seen a lot of shirts from japan with the japanese emoticons on them. i thought that was pretty neat... (^.^)/

[groovewonder]

yeah, the japanese ones are far superior. much more descriptive..

m(_ _)m

[Big Booger]

<@.@> <-- chikan hehehe

{*<*} <------Frankenstein

Doraemon was pretty kewl.

There are a few pervert smilies:
(_._)

(_/_)

(.) (.)

hehehe
BB