The cultural difference between :) and ^_^

[Killbert-Robby]

This is easily the best emoticon ever.:

Hah I remember that after the 1st time I posted that one here we had like a whole game going on and everything

(I use this smiley so often... hell I have this face in real life)


As for the poll, I find its ^_^. This is because when I use its on msn and the smile is more of this cutesy "awwww" smile, and its kinda corrupted me smiley recognition. So now is for when someone said something nice or you're saying/doing something cute.

But ^_^ is just like "WOO!"

How about Kirby smileys? (>-0.0)>

[McDuffies]

I always like more practical versions. is like, *tap* *tap*, and you smiled. ^_^ has a bit more complicated scheme, not only because it's three signs, but also because they're non-standard signs that you don't use often, while : and ) are both standard interpunction and you already intitively know where they're placed on keyboard.
Also looks more compact to me, while ^_^ is rather stretched out. Using smiley, to me, should be as simple as smiling in real life.

[McDuffies]

[/quote]
"Oh, look, somoene remembered the coffee emoticon!"

[Nervous Spy]

What I like about the ^_^ - type is the option to make it wider:
^____^

That's especially effective for the O_o and >_< versions:

>___________<;

O_________o;;;

Sometimes, less would just not do...

[Killbert-Robby]

I dunno I find just 0_o to be more effective. Same for >_<. It seems to bring out the emotion even more.

[RemusShepherd]

How about Kirby smileys? (>-0.0)>

When I read that, I thought, 'That doesn't look like anything Jack Kirby ever drew'. A Jack Kirby smiley would probably be something square-jawed. :^]

I'm from the old school of the sideways smiley, but the horizontal anime smileys are growing on me. There's just a lot more you can do with them. ^o^

[Garneta]

The fact that there even are horizontal AND vertical smileys confuses me even more.

[LAO]

I abhor the use of smileys in general.

[Killbert-Robby]

I abhor the use of smileys in general.

[Dr Legostar]

[Pimpette]

...personally I always see the _ part of the ^_^ smileys as a nose instead of a mouth. Not sure why... but somehow I like them better that way.

[Nervous Spy]

How about Kirby smileys? (>-0.0)>

When I read that, I thought, 'That doesn't look like anything Jack Kirby ever drew'. A Jack Kirby smiley would probably be something square-jawed. :^]

I'd think a Jack Kirby smiley would be one with a square fist coming at the viewer:

|||| o_o >

[MariaAndMichelle]

What I like about the ^_^ - type is the option to make it wider:
^____^

That's especially effective for the O_o and >_< versions:

>___________<;

O_________o;;;

Sometimes, less would just not do...

It's true. The widening really helps to convey that extra bit of emotion.

[Kirb]

That bastard practically stole a page out of my term paper on Internet Culture.

I will have his head.

[McDuffies]

0______0 0_0 < hey, why the long face?

[Joel Fagin]

0______0 0_0 < hey, why the long face?

I dunno, McDuff. I think that joke's a bit of a stretch.

- Joel Fagin

[The Neko]

I've always had this theory about ^_^. The wider it is, the fatter the user is in real life.

^_^ = average
^__^ = chunky
^_____________^ = morbidly obese
^________________________^;; = otaku.

[McDuffies]

Yours is ^.^ then.

[Nanda]

Yay, fat jokes. Those are always comedic gold.

[Phact0rri]

I rarely use the ^_^ I do the wink one ^_~ quite a bit though. when I'm happy I usually actually write out *YEY* or *smiles*