Smilies have been used in email/internet communication since the early 1990s, and in the last few years have taken on graphical, usually yellow, and sometimes animated forms. However in plain text email or messages people still sometimes use the original punctuation-based smilies, where the secret is to turn your head to the side (so your left ear nearly touches your left shoulder)to see a little face.
Most commonly used are the first few in this list, but variations have been developed, and are listed below. Note that different fonts make a difference to how smilies look: these are in Trebuchet MS.
For commonly used email acronmys (abbreviations) see the acronym page.
| :-) | basic smilie - indicating friendship |
| :) | alternative smiley (or user has no nose) |
| :-( | frowning or sad face |
| :( | sad with no nose |
| ;-) | winking ('don't hit me for what I said') |
| ;) | wink with no nose |
| :-| | indifferent, neither happy nor sad |
| :-0 | not sure what to expect, or surprised |
| :^) | basic sideways smilie |
| :^D | sideways face with huge grin |
| 8-) | wearing glasses |
| %-) | staring at screen for 15 hours with no break |
| &:-) | wavy hair |
| '-) | arrogant wink |
| (-: | left handed |
| *:o) | Bozo the Clown! |
| *<:-) | wearing a Santa Claus hat |
| +:-) | holds some religious office |
| .-) | only has one eye |
| 8-| | in suspense |
| : | the invisible smilie |
| :'( | crying a little |
| 8``( | crying a lot |
| :') | so happy, s/he is crying |
| :* | kisses |
| :*( | stuffy nose |
| :*) | drunk |
| :-# | wears braces |
| :-& | tongue-tied |
| :-)~ | drooling |
| :-* | just ate something sour |
| :-, | smirk |
| :-7 | just made a wry statement |
| :-8( | condescending stare |
| :-9 | licking lips |
| :-=0 | Hitler |
| :-> | really biting sarcastic remark. |
| :-? | smokes a pipe |
| :-@ | screaming |
| :-C | really fed-up |
| :-D | laughing |
| :-E | bucktoothed vampire |
| :-F | bucktoothed vampire with one tooth missing |
| :-o | surprised |
| :-P | Nyahhhh! |
| :-p | tongue out |
| :-Q | smoker |
| :-r | tongue out |
| :-V | shouting |
| :-v | speaking a lot |
| :-W | speaking with forked tongue |
| :-x | kiss |
| :-X | lips are sealed |
| :-[ | biting criticism |
| :-] | biting sarcasm |
| :-{> | moustache and beard |
| :{) | bushy moustache |
| :-#| | uncontrollable bushy moustache |
| :->----< | clarinet player |
| :-} | smirk |
| :-~) | has a cold |
| :6 | sticking tongue out |
| ::-) | wears normal glasses |
| :@) | a pig |
| :D | said with a huge smile |
| :I | Hmmm... |
| :v) | broken nose |
| :[ | real downer |
| :^) | broken nose |
| <+]:-) | Pope |
| <:-I | dunce |
| <|-) | Chinese |
| <|-( | Chinese and doesn't like these kind of jokes |
| =) | cartoon face smiling |
| =:-) | punk rocker |
| =:-( | real punk rockers don't smile |
| >:-> | just made a really devilish remark. |
| ?:-) | philosopher |
| @:-) | wearing a turban |
| @= | pro-nuclear war |
| B-) | horn-rimmed glasses |
| B:-) | sunglasses on head |
| C=:-) | chef |
| d8= | beaver wearing goggles and a hard hat. |
| E-:-) | ham radio operator |
| K-) | masked |
| k:P | little kid with a propeller beanie |
| 0 :-) | angel |
| O-) | Megaton Man on patrol! |
| 0B-) | saint with glasses |
| S:) | curly hair |
| [:-) | wearing a walkman |
| [:] | robot |
| {:-) | wears a toupee |
| |) | Ninja Turtle |
| |-I | asleep |
| |-O | yawn |
| }:-( | deeply frowning |
| }:-( | toupee in an updraft |
| !! | feet first |
| !) | foot in mouth |