japanese emoticons
January 29, 2003 4:48 AM   Subscribe

Japanese Emoticons (*^_^*)
posted by hama7 (28 comments total)
 
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posted by hama7 at 4:52 AM on January 29, 2003


Just by odds alone I'd say there's probably a Kanji that probably looks like a smiley face. Bonus points if it actually means something vulgur.
posted by Space Coyote at 5:08 AM on January 29, 2003


\(^o^)/
posted by twine42 at 5:17 AM on January 29, 2003


Kawaii!
posted by pekar wood at 5:19 AM on January 29, 2003


Some of them are obvious. Some of them are just odd. It's not surprising (to me at least) that there are a lot more smilies with very tight meanings...

I like things like (*_* ) ( *_*) for looking around (sorry I had to change the *'s) and _Ø_ (. . ) for someone writing a memo...

There look like so many of the you couldn't do in 'American' format. Wonder if there are any that are the other way around...
posted by twine42 at 5:23 AM on January 29, 2003


Thanks hama7! Now I must add characters to my fonts.
posted by nofundy at 5:27 AM on January 29, 2003


It is worrisome that some of my university students use (Korean) emoticons in the English compositions they hand in to me for grading. I wonder if this is universal, or just a reflection of the Korean educational system (which, to put it mildly, needs a bit of an overhaul).
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:29 AM on January 29, 2003


(@_@)
posted by hama7 at 5:39 AM on January 29, 2003


Man the Japanese can mangatise anything!
posted by PenDevil at 5:46 AM on January 29, 2003


But, but...where are the tentacles?

~~^_^~~
posted by thanotopsis at 5:50 AM on January 29, 2003


shouldn't that be ~~^o^-*~~... sorry, trying to put a tentacle, um, everywhere.
posted by oninochuck at 6:26 AM on January 29, 2003


Just by odds alone I'd say there's probably a Kanji that probably looks like a smiley face. Bonus points if it actually means something vulgur.
Not that I know of, but the kanji for milk is somewhat graphic. Scroll down to NYUU.

One thing you can learn from the smiley page is that "chu~" (rhymes with shoe) is the Japanese sound effect for a smooch. Ham it up with the "uuuuu" trailing off like a balloon flying away. Use it anywhere you encounter Japanese natives for comical effect, or append "chodai" (a slang word meaning "gimme") to request same from a Japanese male or female.
posted by planetkyoto at 6:40 AM on January 29, 2003


Ha! Great link- thanks!

planetkyoto- I'm not sure what you mean by "graphic". Please to explain...?
posted by mkultra at 6:55 AM on January 29, 2003


Don't you know pornography when you see it? That's a baby being held to a breast. Top left is fingers, below that a baby, and a naked breast on the right. Hubba-Hubba!
posted by planetkyoto at 7:20 AM on January 29, 2003


To me the kanji for mother (BO/haha) is a lot more graphic, as it is a clear and obvious representation of a pair of breasts, although on their side for some reason. If only there were a smiley like that.
posted by donkeymon at 7:40 AM on January 29, 2003


Do we know that BO/haha is based on breasts, or NYUU on suckling, or is this a kind of faces on mars syndrome?

SHI / SU / ko is not only graphic, but just goes to so that they are as gender biased as the chinese. [/joke]
posted by twine42 at 7:44 AM on January 29, 2003


(>_<)

Looks like Cartman about to blow his top.
posted by Foosnark at 7:50 AM on January 29, 2003


planetkyoto, I'm seeing kanji in a whole new light. I never realized there was such symbolism in the characters. I now see, on the milk page you linked:

TODO - deliver: a hand holding a chinese food carton
NEN - thoughts: a question mark inside of a pagoda
NETSU - heat: 2 people walking over hot coals
DON - dull: two people talking, the one on the left is asleep
DOKU - alone: he wakes up and runs away from the dull one
TOTSU - thrust: a fencer who is balancing a poodle on his head
TOKU - acquire: someone making a withdrawl from an ATM
DOU - work: someone crammed into the world's smallest cubicle
TOU / koo(ru) / kogo(eru) -freeze: someone being attacked by Sub-Zero during a Mortal Kombat tournament
TOU / tsutsu - tube: a pneumatic mail delivery system with 2 really tiny Radio City Rockettes on it

This is incredibly fun. I think I may have found my calling: iconomy, kanji translator, at your service. Thanks for the great link!
posted by iconomy at 7:54 AM on January 29, 2003


OK, I see what you're getting at. Yeah, kanji is very pictoral in its representations (I can never see it on my own with my Western eyes, though). Hardly "graphic", though- I think that's quite beautiful.
posted by mkultra at 8:26 AM on January 29, 2003


Here's the motherload. (^-^)
posted by bobo123 at 11:50 AM on January 29, 2003


fun link, thanks.
posted by patrickje at 12:28 PM on January 29, 2003


My favorite: (¬_¬)
posted by wanderingmind at 1:18 PM on January 29, 2003


(^_^) / /
applause!
posted by xtian at 2:00 PM on January 29, 2003


:|
posted by linux at 3:00 PM on January 29, 2003


o_O
O_o
My "wtf is wrong with you" faces. They grow on you after a while. Also try making the mouth longer
O____o
hee.
posted by krazykity16 at 4:42 PM on January 29, 2003


=^..^=

kitty
posted by birdherder at 6:06 PM on January 29, 2003


(o_O )nbsp;       nbsp;       nbsp;       ( O_o)

Smilie stereograms!
posted by twine42 at 12:55 AM on January 30, 2003


arse.
posted by twine42 at 12:56 AM on January 30, 2003


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