Problems with emoticons

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Does anyone else have problems understanding emoticons or using them? Some of them are clear to me, but others are not. Like the one that indicates that the person is joking, for a long time I thought it just meant "laughing" and I did not get the "joke" implication. Is anyone else this stupid? Or is it just me? I am learning to view it as an inability to generalize in some way and not to be down on myself for it.

I guess I need a hands-on lesson on them. They are not intuitive for me at all. Also, whenever I apply them, for some reason when they post the script remains around the icon. Thanks in advance to whoever guides me through this embarrassing distress. And I look forward to finding out how many people have this problem.

Also, maybe it is an age thing? I grew up long before the personal computer. Are there any youngsters out there who grew up on a personal computer and still have had this problem?

I'm okay with smile, wink, cry and a few other facial things.

First of all, they are HARD to see.
Second, I'd rather see a word than a picture that I'm supposed to guess what it is/means
Last, emoji confuse me. I think emoticons and emoji are 'related'?

I thought emoticons were awesome the first day I learned about them. I thought it was genius to put them at the end of a sentence to show your feelings behind your words so that you don't cause confusion. For example, if I said something like:

Now that's the silliest thing I ever heard!

A different emoticon would change the whole meaning behind the exact same sentence.

Now that's the silliest thing I've ever heard!

Sometimes I worry I use emoticons too much and that people will think I'm a dumb kid or something. But I draw cartoons and even though aspies are believed to be all emotionless robots I show a lot of emotion and expressions in my characters faces and I'm better at recognizing them than in real life.

I am from the same generation as you, and in fact, I think I may be just about exactly the same age. Like the majority of people on this site, I have had considerable problems all my life in "reading" people and situations, with all the confusion and embarrassment that can result, not to mention the further complications arising from occasional inappropriate responses on my part.

Since joining WP, I have felt on the whole quite "at home" among kindred spirits, but have come to realize that the issue outlined above is no less of a potential problem, even when the encounters are in an online format.

I have found that emoticons can provide a sort of instant visual reassurance in this context, for example:

When I see this one I always feel a sense of warmth from the sender, and I hope this is reciprocated if I use it!

I use this to indicate that a remark was made in a light-hearted, friendly context.

"I meant that as a joke", or "I appreciated your joke".

Even when the "darker" emoticons are used ( ), I generally assume that the dialogue remains a healthy, animated one in which mutual regard still persists.

In addition to the reassurance factor, I just find emoticons in general hugely funny and entertaining! This is clearly not felt universally, and may well reflect my own childlike sense of humour and outlook on life, but I am well beyond the point where I would feel it necessary to explain or apologize for such things!

Among my favourites in this respect are:


The one emoticon I dislike intensely, for reasons I cannot properly explain or understand, and which I do not use, is this one:

Can anyone explain why none of these emoticons has a nose, by the way?

I see two kinds of emoticons. Happy yellow faces and mean yellow faces.
When I am not being serious, I display some animal and silly emoticons. Those are my favorites.

i hate this emoticon, with a passion.



he...she...or, it...looks so smug, stuck up and full of itself. i want to punch it.

I've learned how to read them and use them. At first they were confusing to me.

I have trouble reading the emoticons on WP for some reason. I haven't had any problems with emoticons in general.

I probably use them too much

When I first looked at your post I thought that one was a lightbulb. Funny.

I prefer for them to remain in plain text, rather than generate a little picture. I dislike the emoticon sets on most sites and forums, though some are okay. I have them disabled on Skype as well. (I hate the emoticon on Skype so much that I actually type it with a space in-between the "eyes" and the "mouth" because, even though I've disabled them, the thought that other people would be able to see that hideous picture really bothers me. Not a fan of this one either, but it doesn't upset me like Skype's.)

I've never had too many problems reading or understanding them though, at least not the basic ones.