Anime Smiley Dictionary

LESSON 1: the basic faces
^_^ is the same as :) and means "happy"/"smiling face"

 ~_~ and -_- are the same as :( and mean "sad"/"upset"/"sorry"

 ^_~ and ~_^ and ^_- and -_^ are the same as ;) and means "wink"

 O_o and o_O depict different sized eyes and mean "boggled"/"shocked"/"disturbed"/"scared"/"confused"/"information overload"

 O_O is very close to the above ones and depicts both eyes wide open, meaning "scared"/"shocked"/"surprised"/"disturbed"/"speechless"/"awe"

If you are extremely shocked or boggled you can always do a sentence of "O_o... o_O... O_O!!"

 o_o on the other hand is a rather neutral face, sometimes used to denote "boredom"/"blank face"/"not amused"/"something failing to meet your expectations"

 >_< depicts tightly shut eyes and means "angry"/"very annoyed" though at times could mean "scared"/"avoidant"

 *_* means "starry eyed," and is used to denote the prettiness or beauty of something; can also mean dazed

 ;_; and T_T show water pouring down from eyes and so mean "cry"... which can be both happy or sad, I guess

 >_> and <_< are eyes looking to the side and mean someting to the effect of avoiding a subject or being embarassed to talk about it; avoiding eye contact

 X_x and x_X show a more extreme sense of confusion than O_o and o_O but overall the meaning is similar; "faint"/"confusion"/"information overload"

 X_X is an even more extreme sense of "faint due to confusion"

 9_9 and e_e shows eyes looking up and therefore means "rolleyes"

 @_@ depicts swirls for eyes and means "dazed"

 $_$ means "greedy"

 !_! is sometimes but rarely used to denote "surprise"/"shock"

 ?_? means "confusion"

 6_6 is eyes looking down, and though I guess this can denote shyness it most often occurs when people typo the ^_^ face and so we make fun of them and say their eyes are hanging out :P


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LESSON 2: adding ; and x
*~The Sweatdrop~*

*As was briefly mentioned in the ;_; face the ; means water. The ; symbol can be attached to a number of the above smileys to modify their meaning. ; can also be written as '

*The general rule is that adding ; to a smiley amplifies the meaning of the smiley.

So, O_O; is more shocked/surprised than plain old O_O

 ~_~; is more sad/sorry than ~_~

*Can't really add ; to faces like ;_; and T_T since they're as watery as they come

*The more ; you add to a smiley the more that smiley is amplified!

O_O;;; is more shocked/surprised than O_O;

 ~_~;;; is more sad/sorry than ~_~;

*There are no limits to how many ; you can add

*However there is one notable exception to the general amplification rule! Adding ; to the ^_^ smiley does NOT amplify happiness. ^_^; is its own smiley meaning "nervousness"/"embarassment"/"shyness"/"apology" and sometimes "confusion" (ie: "I don't understand ^_^;;")

*~The Bulging Blood Vessels~*

*The x symbolizes the blood vessels that flare up when somebody is annoyed/angry. Adding x to a smiley changes its tone to that of "annoyance" and varying degrees of "anger." Attaching x to smileys which already mean annoyance/anger amplifies that annoyance/anger

 ~_~x comes to mean more of a "deep annoyance" as opposed to ~_~

 ^_^x comes to mean more of a "mild annoyance"/"you are annoyed but trying to express it in a polite way" as opposed to ^_^

*X shows more annoyance/anger than x

 ~_~X is more deeply annoyed than ~_~x

 ^_^X is more annoyed than ^_^x

*Can't really add x or X to the X_X X_x x_X faces

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LESSON 3: cutesifying faces
*Nothing complicated here. If you want your smiley to take on a more lighthearted or cutesy tone, simply change the _ to . or eliminate it altogether

 ^_^ becomes ^.^ or ^^

 ~_~ becomes ~.~ or ~~

Some see the . as a cute lil nose, some as a tiny mouth. Whichever you see, at least it's cute :P

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LESSON 4: gettin' creative with advanced faces
*The anime smiley system is very versatile and basically allows you to make your very own original smileys if you so desire. You can add on stuff like hair, hand gestures, whiskers... etc, etc

A kitty face could be made by adding whiskers to a happy face =^_^= =^.^= =^^= This smiley is often used to denote "cuteness"

Parentheses could be used to add hair ((^_^))

Various letters could be attached to show hand gestures like "victory" ^_^v ^_^V and "making a point"/"held up index finger" ^_^b

The face of a "cabbit" (from Tenchi Muyo) can be made (_/=^_^=\_)

Vampires can be made ^;-;^ in this case the ; is teeth, not water

My friend says this ^;;^ is a nosebleed face, but I say it's a cutesy vampire heh

Kenshin from the anime Rurouni Kenshin ((^_^x)) can be made. In this case the x is not anger but the x-shaped scar on Kenshin's cheek

Owl faces can be made as (^v^) (OvO) (0v0) (-v-)

*Faces other than ^_^ could be used with all these various attachments

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