Smilies add flavors to your e-mail: smile! :-), hee
hee :-P, wink! ;-D etc…
We Japanese also use smilies, even more frequently than
North American people do. But there is one big
difference. Our smilies are written vertically!
For example, the most common smily is
(^_^)
where the brackets "()", the hats
"^", and the under bar "_" represents
the outline, the eyes, and the mouth respectively. Do you
see that?
Some variations are:
|
|
|
| (~O~) |
I'm sleepy. (a yawning
person) |
|
| d(-_^) |
Goo! (winking with a
thumb up) |
|
| ( ^o^)y ((( -_-) |
Just between you and I... |
|
Now, are you ready for advanced (more
"Japanese") smilies?
| m(_ _)m |
Forgive me... (a bowing
person) |
|
| (^_^;) |
at a loss for an answer
(";" represents sweat) |
|
| (;_;) |
I'm sad...
(";" represents tears here) |
|
| (T_T) |
another version of crying
("T" represents tears) |
|
|
|
|
As you can see, these smilies are
pretty much influenced by the manga (Japanese comic)
culture.
Because Japanese computers have more characters than
English ones, we can make use of them to create smilies
as well:
 |
Oops, sorry.
(a person scratching his head) |
|
 |
F**k you! |
|
 |
Me? |
|
 |
Wait! |
|
 |
Yeah! (a dancing person) |
|
 |
I'm taking memo. |
|
 |
Kampai! (cheers) |
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Some are even artistic, eh?
So, when you receive e-mail from your
Japanese friend next time, don't lean your head :-/
 bye!
This ariticle is written
for the KonJa newsletter (spring '98).
Reference: Kao moji no hiroba
Animation smilies: AOWAOW-Network
Copyright (c) 1998
KOJI UEDA. All rights reserved.
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