Western style
To more easily recognise them, put your head on either your left or right shoulder, depending on whether the "top" of the emoticon is on the left or the right.
Basic examples
:-) or :) or =) smile (a smiley)
rarely (:
never =-)
:-( or )-: or :( frown: sadness or sympathy
:/ somewhat unhappy/discontent
:| serious
:-D or :D wide grin
:-P or :p tongue sticking out: joke or sarcasm
;-) or (-; or ;) wink
B-) or 8-) has (sun)glasses: looking cool
:-o or :o expresses surprise
:-7 tongue in cheek (rare)
XD laugh
:\\/ big mouth
Variants
There are endless possibilities, because people are very good at creating and interpreting pictures as faces. See ASCII art.
A few people turn the smiley around, a "left handed" smiley (: This left-handed smiley can sometimes cause miscommunication though, since some hardcore netaddicts tend to drop the : representing the eyes [leaving ) instead of :) ] so what you intendend like a smile could be interpreted as a frown. Generally people who communicate this way a lot subconsciously think: "Caption close = smile Caption open = sad face"
As more of a joke than anything—but also as a political statement—"frownies", the symbol :-(, were trademarked by Despair, Inc in U.S. Trademark Serial No. 75502288, Registration No. 2347676. The trademark applies only to "Printed matter namely, greeting cards, posters and art prints" and has never been enforced in a court of law.
Detailed emoticons
=8-0 fright
=8-@=(&) one with a tapeworm
(credited to Dave Barry)
d:^) baseball player
+-<:-) The pope
*<|:o)> or Santa Claus
*<|:{ )
7:^] Ronald Reagan
@@@@:^) Marge Simpson
(___8(V) or Homer Simpson
(_8(I)
East Asian style
Several East Asians and many from North America and Europe use the "Japanese emoticons", which can be understood without turning one's head to the left. It's usually in the format of ¹_¹, where the superscripts indicate the eyes, and the in-between character, usually an underscore, is the mouth. When a period is used for the mouth, it is often meant to make the person look cuter.
Basic examples
^_^ or ^.^ smiley
~_~ or ~.~ content
`_^ or `.^ or 、_^ wink
>_< or >.< angry
^o^ excited
\\^o^/ very excited (raising hands into the air)
*_* or *.* starry eyed (amazed)
-_- or -.- annoyed (trying to hide annoyance)
;_; or ;.; crying
T_T or T.T flowing tears
o_O or O_o or O.o or o.O surprise
O_O or O.O big surprise
@_@ or @.@ confused
Complex example
=^.^= blushing, or a cat face (mischievous)
<<@_@>> drunk with vertigo
...~*.*~... girl with braids
~~~~>_<~~~~ weeping horribly
^_^; or ^.^; small sweatdrop (embarrassed)
^_^U or ^.^U huge sweat drop (anime-like)
^_^a scratching head
Kirby series
Q(''Q) Boxing Kirby
O-(''Q) Kirby taking a punch
O*'Q) Kirby blocking
q('') Thumbs down Kirby
('')b Thumbs up Kirby
<(^ ^)> Happy Kirby
(* *) or (x x) Dead Kirby
<(o 0)> Confused Kirby
t(''t) Kirby giving the Middle finger
External links