Smile I don’t know. Smilies from symbols. The meaning of the emoticon written in symbols. By agreement to highlight a message in work correspondence

Smiley ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯ has become widespread in the Russian Internet not so long ago. And he was born thanks to Caroline Eisenmann, an assistant at the New York Literary Agency.

While editing her profile on the OkCupid dating site, Caroline decided that the profile would be better remembered by adding something interesting to the name. It was supposed to be something "frivolous" but "slightly melancholy." This is how this emoticon was created, depicting an ironically smiling man, throwing up his hands.

OkCupid refused to approve the profile with this emoticon, but ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯ has already begun its victorious march on the Internet


Such complex characters are especially characteristic of the Japanese language: there, to create emoticons, not only punctuation marks are used, but service symbols, as well as the letters of the katakana alphabet.

¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯ began to gain popularity after rapper Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's speech at the 2010 Video Music Awards. After his inappropriate intervention, he shrugged his shoulders and threw up his hands in agreement with the wrongness of his action. An entry immediately appeared on Twitter: "Kanye's shoulders -> ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯", conveying the rapper's gesture. The post began to receive retweets, and the emoticon began to appear in a variety of contexts, in particular, such a gesture became a feature of one of the famous teams of players in Starcraft.

Internet users began to find a characteristic gesture everywhere. One of the Reddit bloggers spotted him with Han Solo from the original trilogy " Star Wars". Another is from Mysterio, the villain from Spider-Man.


However, ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯ remains closely associated with the written culture. This is due to the fact that it is impossible to pronounce it, only to print or depict it by hand. Users interviewed by The Awl (among them writers, editors and journalists) say that this emoticon helps them not spend too much time in chats explaining how they feel. ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯ helps them express apologies (with a touch of embarrassment), doubts and melancholic regret.

And also, of course, Zen Buddhist calmness and acceptance of the world around us as it is.

¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯

Although there is also this version:

On March 12, Lenta.ru reported that the owner of the united Rambler & Co company, Alexander Mamut, decided to resign the editor-in-chief Galina Timchenko, who had worked in this position since 2004.

On March 13, 39 employees of the publication wrote letters of resignation, and on March 17, emoticons began to appear in the section "Who makes Lentu.ru" instead of the names of some of them.


Smile "¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯" with a smiling little man, carelessly shrugging his shoulders, almost immediately began to be used by other media to notify events related to "Lenta.ru".

He also noted the disappearance of the former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.

April 1, when the ex general manager On VKontakte Pavel Durov announced his resignation for the first time, a smile appeared instead of his name at the bottom of the social network page.


Two months later, Western publications reported that the same smiley has gained insane popularity on the English-speaking Internet. Netizens, as before in Russia, began to publish numerous jokes using it. However, none of the publications ascribe a "Russian trace" to the trend.

And the media began to publish instructions on how this character set can be typed more easily without copying it to Mac and iPhone.


"¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯" is known in the West as "shruggie" or "kaomoji" ("kaomoji", Japanese facial mark). It differs from emojii and emoticons by using characters from the katakana alphabet.

This emoji first went viral on the English-language internet in 2009, when rapper Kanye West ruined the award-winning moment for singer Taylor Swift by shouting into the crowd that the best video was directed by Beyoncé. Before leaving the stage, he made a gesture that outwardly resembled "¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯".

After 2 years, the smiley became popular again thanks to the world-class Starcraft II player under the nickname SeleCT. With his help, he finished all victorious matches, and the character set itself acquired the meaning of "sup son" ("Well, sonny?").


By the way, you probably ask how to type it? So, ツ is a sign of the Japanese katakana alphabet, not a smiley, to make it, you need to install a Japanese font!

Control Panel - Clock, Language and Region - Change Keyboard Layout - Change Keyboard - Add - Japanese (Japan) - OK, Done)))

Kaomoji (顔 文字) is a Japanese style of depicting emoticons and is essentially synonymous with Japanese emoticons. This concept is formed by a combination of words: kao (顔 - face) + moji (文字 - symbol, written sign).

The Japanese are a very emotional and creative nation. Therefore, in Japan, emoticons are as widespread as anywhere else in the world.

Many Japanese are good at drawing, because Japanese is the language of drawings. The example of anime and manga shows how accurately the authors manage to convey the various emotions of characters with a set of just a few simple lines. It is likely that kaomoji owes its existence to a certain extent to these types of Japanese art.

According to the Japanese, the eyes are the mirror of the human soul. Therefore, if in Western emoticons the greatest attention is paid to the mouth, in Japanese it is to the eyes. In addition, unlike Western emoticons, kaomoji does not need to be mentally rotated 90 degrees.

Japanese emoticons are extremely diverse. On the Internet, you can find the number 10,000, but in fact there are many more. This diversity is due to at least two factors:

  • unlike Cyrillic and Latin, which are most often written in single-byte encodings, Japanese letters require at least two-byte encodings that have a wider character set;
  • kaomoji can mean not only individual emotions, but also complex actions, and their combinations - even whole stories.

Kaomoji are divided into categories depending on the emotional component, type of designated action or object. Also in these emoticons you can often find hieroglyphs that carry additional semantic coloring.

Emoticons from characters meet recent times Often. And rightly so, because another more universal and quick way displaying your emotions and experiences during text correspondence - does not exist. Today, almost everyone knows at least two or three sets of symbols that reflect emotions. This set includes parentheses for a person's lips, colons for a person's eyes, and a semicolon for a wink. However, you may come across an emoticon written in symbols, but not understand its meaning. This article will help you get closer to understanding text emoticons and memorize character combinations to display your emotions in text correspondence.

Even modern written speech is not endowed with the properties of a quick display of emotions, so that at the time of writing the text the author can show the experiences he is overwhelmed. Only using a couple of sentences or phrases. Before the era of the global spread of the Internet, there were no problems with displaying the emotional component of the writer. Only with the advent of the Internet and the increasing communication through writing text messages in chats, instant messengers, forums and so on, have such problems appeared. It would be inappropriate to write in a message that you are smiling now, or winking at your interlocutor - it would be more like an absurdity, and if it does not have an emotional component at all, then a dry and callous dialogue turns out.

While communicating in real time, there is no way to select words to display emotions. You can put for a question question mark, for admiration - exclamation, but how to show your seriousness to the interlocutor or what you were joking? All these problems were solved in the early 80s. Then it was proposed to attribute the characters colon, dash and closing parenthesis to comic messages, that is :-) - text version of a smiling face (side view). Such a set of characters is a smiling emoticon. Subsequently, the dash, and then the colon, have ceased to be used and they just write a closing parenthesis. ) .

For messages that are filled with sadness and experiences, it was proposed to attribute a set of text characters to a colon, a dash and an open parenthesis, that is :-(... This set of text symbols shows a face with eyes, a nose, and the corners of the lips drooping down. As with the joyful, smiling emoticon, in the sad smile they subsequently stopped writing the colon and dash characters, and began to write forgive the opening parenthesis (.

This is how the ubiquitous and all kinds of use of emoticons in the form of text symbols began. The main focus is on quick expression emotions using some sets of text symbols, but semantic emoticons are also used, showing states, actions, the surrounding nature, and so on. Standard set there are no text symbols, as everyone writes them differently.

Let's consider various options for symbolic emoticons.

Emoticons from symbols on the keyboard

Designation of emoji emotions from characters on the keyboard:

  • Joy or a smile is most often depicted using symbols :) or :-) or =)
  • Laughing uncontrollably (equivalent to LOL expression) :-D or: D or))))
  • Another designation for laughter, but more like a mockery () XD or xD or>: - D (gloating)
  • Laughter to tears, i.e. what the smiley "tears of joy" means: ’-) or:’ - D
  • Sly grin): -> or]: ->
  • A sad or sad smiley has text meanings :-( either = (or :(
  • The symbolic designation of a very sad smiley: -C either: C or (((((again, a variant of the undersmile)
  • Slight displeasure, confusion or confusion: - / or: - \
  • Strong anger D-:
  • Text designation of a neutral attitude emoticon: - | either: -I or._. either -_-
  • The symbolic meaning of the admiration emoticon is * O * or * _ * or **
  • Deciphering the emotion of surprise :-() either: - or: -0 or: O or O: either o_O or oO or o.O
  • Variants of what a strong surprise or bewilderment emoticon 8-O might mean
  • either = -O or: -
  • Disappointment: -e
  • Rage: -E or: E or: -t
  • Embarrassment: - [or% 0
  • Gloom:: - *
  • Sadness: -<

Meaning of text emoji emotional actions or gestures

  • What does a winking smiley mean in text-symbolic execution ;-) or;)
  • Sad joke: ;-(
  • Joyful joke: ;-)
  • Variants for a crying emoticon: _ (either: ~ (or: "(or: * (
  • Joyful cry (means "tears of joy" emoticon): ~ -
  • Sorrowful cry: ~ - (
  • Angry Shout:: [email protected]
  • Kiss in text designation: - * or :-()
  • Hugs ()
  • Show tongue (means teasing) :-P either :-p or: -Ъ
  • Mouth on the lock (means shhh): -X
  • With a soul turns back (designation of nausea): -!
  • If you are drunk or embarrassed (it means either "I am drunk" or "you are drunk"): *)
  • You are a deer E :-) or 3 :-)
  • You are a clown *: O)
  • Heart - either @) ~> ~~ or @-'-, ’-, -
  • Carnation * -> -> -
  • An old joke (means accordion) [: |||:] or [:] / \ / \ / \ [:] or [:] ||| [:]
  • Krezi (means "your roof has gone") / :-( or /: -]
  • Fifth point (_! _)

What do the horizontal (Japanese) character emoticons mean?

Horizontal or Japanese character emoticons are those that can be understood without tilting the head to the side, such as with an emoticon :-).

The most common horizontal text emoticons are:

  • A smile (joy) is usually indicated by: (^_^) or (^ ____ ^) or (n_n) or (^ ^) or \ (^ _ ^) /
  • Sadness in symbols is denoted as: () or (v_v)
  • The following characters represent different degrees of surprise: (o_o) or (0_0) or (O_o) or (o_O) or (V_v) (unpleasant surprise) or (@ [email protected]) (means "You can be stunned")
  • Admiration emoticon: (* _ *) either (* o *) or (* O *)
  • I'm sick: (-_-;) or (-_-;) ~
  • Sleeping: (-. -) Zzz. or (-_-) Zzz. either (u_u)
  • Embarrassment: ^ _ ^ "or * ^ _ ^ * or (-_-") or (-_- v)
  • Anger and rage: (-_- #) or (-_- ¤) or (-_- +) or (> __<)
  • What does fatigue mean: (> _<) либо (%_%)
  • Depression (u_u)
  • Jealousy: 8 (> _<) 8
  • Disbelief: (>>) either (> _>) or (<_<)
  • Indifference: -__- or = __ =
  • This emoticon text expression means misunderstanding: (? _?) Or ^ o ^;>
  • A value close to a crying emoticon: (; _;) or (T_T) or (TT.TT) or (ToT) or Q__Q
  • What does wink mean: (^ _ ~) or (^ _-)
  • Kiss: ^) (^ either (^) ... (^) or (^) (^^)
  • High five (means friend): = X = either (^ _ ^) (^_^)
  • Love-carrot: (^ 3 ^) or (* ^) 3 (* ^^ *)
  • Apology: m (._.) M
  • Greed emoticon: ($ _ $)

Cool emoticons from characters

Cool emoticons consisting of several symbols - the imagination is limitless.

Answer 3 simple questions: Get started
This emoticon can be sent using the following methods:
  1. Open the emoticon palette, find this emoticon and click on it. The smiley image will appear in the input field and now all that remains is to send a message.
  2. Type or copy one of the following codes into the input field and send a message:
    (manshrug)
    (Manshrug)
    (mshrug)
    (Mshrug)
  3. If someone sent you "Man shrugs" emoticon, highlight it, right-click and select "Copy selection". After that, right-click in the input field and select "Paste as text". Now you can send your message.
# Note that the "Man shrugs" emoticon is not supported by all versions of Skype. This emoticon has become available since Skype 7.6 for Windows.

# Download "Man shrugs" emoticon:
To download this animated emoticon, right-click on the link and select "Save". Also, you can open this link in a new browser tab, and then press the key combination Ctrl + S

# Keywords:
shrug, man, masculine, boy, no idea, don't know, confusion, don't care, uh, what?

Smiley ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯ has become widespread in the Russian Internet not so long ago. And he was born thanks to Caroline Eisenmann, an assistant at the New York Literary Agency.

While editing her profile on the OkCupid dating site, Caroline decided that the profile would be better remembered by adding something interesting to the name. It was supposed to be something "frivolous" but "slightly melancholy." This is how this emoticon was created, depicting an ironically smiling man, throwing up his hands.

OkCupid refused to approve the profile with this emoticon, but ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯ has already begun its victorious march on the Internet

Such complex characters are especially characteristic of the Japanese language: there, to create emoticons, not only punctuation marks are used, but service symbols, as well as the letters of the katakana alphabet.

¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯ began to gain popularity after rapper Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's speech at the 2010 Video Music Awards. After his inappropriate intervention, he shrugged his shoulders and threw up his hands in agreement with the wrongness of his action. An entry immediately appeared on Twitter: "Kanye's shoulders -> ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯", conveying the rapper's gesture. The post began to receive retweets, and the emoticon began to appear in a variety of contexts, in particular, such a gesture became a feature of one of the famous teams of players in Starcraft.

Internet users began to find a characteristic gesture everywhere. One of the Reddit bloggers spotted him with Han Solo from the original Star Wars trilogy. Another is from Mysterio, the villain from Spider-Man.

However, ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯ remains closely associated with written culture. This is due to the fact that it is impossible to pronounce it, only print it or depict it by hand. Users interviewed by The Awl (among them writers, editors and journalists) say that this emoticon helps them not spend too much time in chats explaining how they feel. ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯ helps them express apologies (with a touch of embarrassment), doubts and melancholic regret.

And also, of course, Zen Buddhist calmness and acceptance of the world around us as it is.

¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯

Although there is also such a version.

Emoticons have become so firmly established in our lives that without them the alphabet looks incomplete, and the messages seem dry and detached. But even in such a frivolous and childishly simple matter, like placing emoji, there are subtleties.

What do the different smilies mean?

With smiley objects, everything is simple: they mean what they represent. A ball is a ball, an alarm clock is an alarm clock, and there is nothing to think about. But with smiley faces, the task becomes more complicated. We do not always manage to correctly guess the emotions from the faces of living people, let alone the physiognomy of the koloboks. There are emoticons, the meaning of which is obvious:

Fun, laughter, joy, jubilation.

Sadness, sadness, longing, discontent.

Playful mood, teasing.

Surprise, amazement, shock, fear.

Anger, resentment, rage.

And a few more similar ones - all possible options for families and romantic unions.

But there are some among the emoticons, the meaning of which can be interpreted ambiguously, or even bewildered:

This emoticon depicts a person sobbing at three - well, at two - streams, but in the version for Apple devices, due to raised eyebrows and a mouth that is not twisted from sobs, he is often perceived as laughing to tears. Be careful with him: you want to indicate grief to them, but they will misunderstand you.

This emoticon is intended to represent silence. Instead, he just scares to death.

If everything is more or less clear with the evil devil ("evil as devil"), then the cheerful devil is somewhat puzzling. Most likely, he is not only furious, but also anticipating how he will dance on your opponent's grave. And you, perhaps, just wanted to show originality and an unusual smile.

Despite the fact that the three wise monkeys saw nothing, did not hear and did not speak precisely because of their wisdom, these muzzles close their eyes, mouth and ears from shame, confusion and shock.

A set of feline emoticons for those who think that ordinary koloboks are not expressive enough and want to add sweetness to their emotions.

Instead of "hello" and "goodbye" you can wave your hand.

Hands raised, a gesture of joyful greeting or glee.

The applause is both sincere and sarcastic.

If in this picture you see hands folded in a prayer gesture, then for you emoji can mean "thank you" or "I beg you." Well, if you see the "high five!"

A raised index finger can emphasize the importance of the message or express a request to interrupt the interlocutor with a question, or it can simply point to the previous message in the chat.

Fingers crossed for good luck.

For some it is "stop", but for someone "high five!"

No, this is not a truffle. Not even a truffle at all.

Ogre and Japanese goblin. It seems that someone is missing the usual devils.

Lier. His nose grows like Pinocchio's every time he lies.

These are eyes wide open in amazement, and the shifting eyes of a rogue, and even a lustful look. If someone sends you such an emoticon in the comments to the photo, you can be sure that the photo is successful.

And this is just an eye, and it is watching you.

A young moon and a full moon. It seems to be nothing special, but these smileys have their fans who appreciate them for their creepy facial expressions.

A very common girl in purple. Her gestures mean OK (hands over head), “no” (arms crossed), “hello” or “I know the answer” (hand up). This character has another pose that baffles many -. According to the official version, it symbolizes the help desk worker. Apparently, she shows with her hand how to get to the city library.

Do you also see two tense faces here, presumably unfriendly? But they didn't guess: according to Apple's tips, this is an embarrassed face and a stubborn face. Who would have thought!

By the way, tips for emoticons can be viewed in the message window on, if you open an emoji and hover the cursor over the emoticon you are interested in. Like this:

Another way to find out the meaning of an emoticon is to ask emojipedia.org for help. On it you will find not only detailed interpretations of emoticons, but you can also see how the same emoticon looks on different platforms. Many unexpected discoveries await you.

Where are emoticons appropriate?

1. In informal friendly correspondence

Funny yellow faces are appropriate in a personal chat, where you share not so much information as your mood. With the help of emoticons, you will laugh at a joke, sympathize, make faces at each other. This is where emotions really belong.

2. When emotions are overflowing and words are not enough

Sometimes, when something very important happens in our life, feelings overwhelm us so much that we are about to burst. Then we write an emotional post on Facebook or post a dazzling photo on Instagram and decorate it with a generous scattering of emoticons. Someone, of course, will not like it, but what now, stifle all the vivid sensations in yourself? The main thing is not to abuse such a public manifestation of violent emotions: it will alienate subscribers and question your adequacy.

3. By agreement to highlight a message in work correspondence

This is a very simple and convenient way to make important messages that require urgent attention visible. For example, it is great for these purposes. But you need to agree in advance which cases in your company are considered urgent and which smiley you will use for this.

It is important not to overdo it: if you have one emoticon for emergency messages, the second for urgent questions, and the third for important news, then soon all work correspondence will turn into a New Year's garland that no one is looking at.

When is it better to do without emoticons

1. In business correspondence

Work is not a place for emotions. Here you are required to be calm, collected and professional. Even if you want to emphasize your benevolence or express concern about the situation, use emoticons for these purposes, not emoticons.

2. When dealing with foreigners

This is especially true of emoji gestures. For example, someone you wanted to show your approval to will end your good relationship with someone from Greece or Thailand. Still, because with this gesture you sent him to hell.

Therefore, if you are not sure of your deep knowledge of the peculiarities of the national culture of your interlocutor, do not risk it.

3. Oddly enough, when you discuss feelings and emotions

Feelings are serious business. If you are not just chatting, but opening your soul or sharing something important, words will convey your feelings and experiences much more accurately than emoticons. “You are dearer to me than anyone else in the world” means much more than ten hearts in a row. In the end, you have only one heart, so give it.

Remember, emojis are a condiment, not a main ingredient. To give expressiveness to your message, you need very few of them.

Emoji language

Judging by the fact that today almost no personal correspondence is complete without emoticons, we can safely say that emoji have become an independent section of the language. Sometimes they even pretend to replace the language: you can write a whole message using only emoticons. The popular American TV show Ellen DeGeneres even has a special section in which guests are invited to read a phrase where part of the words are replaced with emoji:

And here is the encrypted name of the film, which we invite you to guess.