What are Emoticons?
The word Emoticon is a combination or blend of the words Emotion and Icon, its pronounced as Emoti-con (/imotikon/). The terms Smileys and Smilies are also used to refer to Emoticons, but we’ll get to that a little bit later. Emoticons are emotional icons or graphics: a visual way to express your emotions, attitude, how you feel and what you want to say. They’re extremely helpful in situations where words just simply aren’t enough. In a way, emoticons are an online substitute for real-life properties such as the expression on your face or the tone of your voice, they help you to clearly set the context of your messages. Today, Emoticons are all over the Internet: blogs, forums, Instant Messaging, email and even on mobile phones and similar devices. Smileys add a human touch to the the otherwise cold and inhuman nature of Internet communication. Emoticons can dance, laugh, cry and giggle their way into your chats, a smiley can sometimes convey much more than words alone… send them a s
When you’re chatting with a friend, you can send a graphic to show how you’re feeling. These graphics are called “emoticons,” because they enhance your words with emotions. For example, when you type this: 🙂 you and the friend you are chatting with will see a small picture of smiling yellow face. Here is the complete list of emoticons you can send: 🙂 happy smile 🙁 frowning face 😛 tongue out 😐 straight look 😀 big teeth 😡 kissy face 😉 winking smile :> smug smile :-/ confused smile 😮 surprised smile >:) devil smile :)) laughing :(( crying X-( angry face B-) shades So put on a happy (or smug or angry) face and chat away!
