this is one of those things i get so curious about it can keep me awake at night - you must excuse me, but i have a background in linguistics and language and sign systems have me spellbound. i've noticed that i and photo comix both use this little fellow quite often: - but we seem to interpret him in different ways. for me, he's shouting for joy and running about in enthusiasm, for pc i think he seems to stand for something negative. what about the rest of you? how do you interpret this smiley? and while you're at it, can you give me your best translation in words of these guys too and/or describe when you would use them? pleeeease? *takes on imploring expression with comical results, as usual*








i know the gc smilies are coded with a sort of lexical meaning, but interpretation and meaning are different things and actual use often differs from lexical meaning.

just excited and having fun.
an obvious wink, can't miss
happy go lucky, easy going
bad eyes, hard to see text or image
rock on or party on but it looks like it could be interpreted differently
playing with gadgets, games, coding...
very bad, psycho, the devil
strangle, weird, devilish
it's hot

I will add to odin's input since it is very similiar.

just excited and having fun. Finally accomplished or figured something out.
an obvious wink, can't miss
happy go lucky, easy going
bad eyes, hard to see text or image
rock on or party on . happy dance
playing with gadgets, games, coding... I figured out something that makes me a pc geek.
very bad, psycho, the devil..mad as heck
strangle, weird, devilish
it's hot

I will add to Lianam and odin's input since it is very similiar.

Geek, nerd

I'm going to show you some impressive math/science/hack
... this answer of mine should prove you irrevocably wrong on that subject
no use, not using Windows
reinstalling Windows for the Nth time
let me put this in perspective...
I can't put y finger on it
what you need to make Windows run properly
I think I need an antivirus/firewall
my PC once I installed Windows

@ ofnuts..LOL I like those too

Funny off-topic, I like studying emotes (:
I think some of these emotes were made for a 1024*768 display, perhaps some of them are no longer readable enough.

: = joy for sure, but I see where it could be seen as negative, as the smile expression is not enough contrasted for a superwhite bg, and if the smile vanishes, the meaning changes..

: = I hardly get the message on this one, I see it as a less efficient clone of

bad eyes: = Too much unclear to me, it could express bad eyes or stunned or even horny..

= very angry, it's a classic.

I love the meaning of this one, I often use it to emphasize some ironic or cynical sentence.

I don't see where I could use this one, this is quite meaningless to me.


ahah I'm afraid it will never be used this way

this is so much fun! so far the differences haven't been great, but read this list of meanings for same or similar smilies - it's smiley knowledge i've picked up in forums with an overwhelming majority of female members and i think that may have biased one or two meanings:

- "WOW! LOOK at that!" (impressed beyond words by something or stunned by image of extremely good looking member of opposite sex) or of course the hard to see option.
- playing with gadgets, games, coding...", "I figured out something that makes me a pc geek", "I'm going to show you some impressive math/science/hack" and "i've used a rather technical and not too user friendly software to do this".
- "really angry", "evil" or "pms monster"
- "melting metaphorically", either by really cute image of for example animals or little children or by hot image of member of opposite sex

ofnuts: seems there is a lot more meaning in our gimp tool icons than i thought. how about these:
- my OS trouble is driving me to tears...
- ... and it's so bad i used the whole packet of tissues...
- ... then i lost it completely and smashed my screen here, here, here and here...
- ... and this is where it all ended up.

For me that one is "I need a bigger screen" (young version) or "where are my glasses?" (adulthood version)

Smileys can certainly have different meanings, depending on the context.

erisian: what would you say it meant, then? come on, make your contribution .

I think you misunderstood my sense of humour. Think "good looking" then think "Erisian" and I'm sure you'll see what I mean.

erisian: i tried very hard to think of those two things at the same time, but it just didn't work...

erisian: in honour of your generous sense of humour:

Just for the fun of it!