^_^a

You know how sometimes computers screw up certain characters - like when apostrophes become question marks and accents turn into ampersands? For the longest time, I thought there must be something really buggy between Korean computers and American ones.

Whenever I got e-mails from Korean friends^^ (in English^.^), all sorts of strange marks would appear. Dashes, periods, underscores, random letters ... and tons and tons of carets. (You know, those things that sound like the crunch-munch-bunny kind - but are actually upside-down-Vs: ^). @.@ But then I noticed them on instant messages -_- and when someone would send me a text message on my cell phone. -.-

I just couldn't figure it out. (?_?) Could it honestly be a mass electronics bug? o.O Maybe Koreans decorate their text with symbols like they decorate their products with English words. O_o Maybe I just knew a lot of typo-prone people. @_@ Maybe their keyboards were setup in such a way that they couldn't help but hit a bunch of odd things. -_-;; Maybe they were politely cussing me out. \(>o<)/ And just what was this obsession with the caret? ^_^a Pretty sure it wasn't about beta carotene. OTL

Well the mystery was solved the other day (*´?`*) when I finally got around to asking one of my Korean friends what the heck was going on over on the keyboard there.

You know that ever-present :) that people use to show they're joking? Academics call them "emoticons," but the more common term is "smiley faces" or just "smileys." There are a few theories about where they developed, but basically computer people realized their value sometime around 1980 to clarify written messages that could otherwise be misinterpreted.

Well Americans use only a handful with any regularity, and they generally revolve around a face torqued 90 degrees counterclockwise. So, for example:

• :) traditional smiley
• =) another version
• :( sad face
• ;) wink
• :P raspberry (tongue out)
• :-) smiley with nose

Turns out Koreans use an entirely different set. The main difference is that their emoticons tend to run vertical and emphasize the "eyes" - quite frequently written as those durned carets. In fact, the classic Korean smiley is actually a pair of smiling eyes only: ^^. Variations on that theme include:

• ^-^
• ^.^
  
• ^__^
• ^ㅡ^

(Not sure about the nuances of these.)

But unlike Americans, Koreans are far from content with a piddley handful of emoticons. And once I hit up my old friend, Google, for more on the subject, I realized it's more than just a collection of symbols - it's a veritable artform. (This is the land of anime and manga, afterall.)

Anyway, here's a compilation of some of the Korean emoticons I've seen in everyday use as well as some of the more creative ones I've happened upon. You can check out my sourcelist at the bottom of this post for more. I've put them in blue so the list is clearer to read, but they're typically just in black and white. Also, it appears that the meaning of several of these is fairly subjective, so don't take this list as any sort of authority, just some examples.

• ~_~ = content
• >_< or >.< = angry
• ^_^a = scratching head
• =^.^= = blushing
• \(>o<)/ = shouting/angry
  
• (^o^) = laughing or excited
• (*^^*) = shyness
• ;_; or ㅠ_ㅠ = crying (the second one is made with a Korean letter, but it can also be done with English capital T's in some fonts)
• -_-;; = cold sweat or unbearable (basically something that is a source of stress); can also be embarrassment or chagrin
  
• (-.-)Zzz = sleeping
• o_O or o.O or any variation of this = surprise
• ^_~ or ^.* = wink
• @.@ or @_@ = dizzy or confused
• (?_?) = perplexed, wondering about something, "What?"
  
• -_- or -.- = something like "hmm" or just no emotion
• ~~~~>_<~~~~ = extreme weeping
  
• \(^_^)/ or \(^o^)/= cheers, "Hooray!"
• (>^_^)> <(^_^<) = hugging
• OTL = frustration (it's a person banging his/her head on the ground - the O is the head, the T is the arms, the L is the legs)
  
• (*´?`*) = sigh
  
• (^(oo)^) = a pig
• @}-;--`-- = a rose
• >(/////)< = a candy

Here's the best one, though ...

()()() ()()()
(-(-(-.-)-)-)

... a rabbit gang.

Know any other good ones? Feel free to leave 'em in the comments.

SOURCES: Dave's ESL Cafe forum, http://blogger.xs4all.nl, Locomote.org, Lets Learn Korean