Korean "emoticons"? What do they mean?

[cathydmoon]

ㅎㅎ
ㅠㅠ
ㅋㅋㅋ

The “ㅋㅋㅋ” I assume is a sort of laughing sound, but the rest I have no idea. And if you could throw in a few more examples or point me to a list of those cute Korean “emoticons” (not sure what to call them), I’d be forever grateful! Kamsahamnida!

Comments

[thechosenone47]

the first one is also a laughing sound, i think. like 'hehe'. i think the second is another version of T___T? correct me if i'm wrong, somebody.

[auroraayanami]

If T___T means crying, then yes! ㅠㅠ is crying. ^^

However, I never got a fully formed meaning of that emoticon. Always though T_______T as something like stunned/exasperated.
But then I myself usually use ;___; for crying and @.@ for stunned/exasperated.

Emoticons are fun! Albeit vague. ^^;

[thechosenone47]

rofl i use ;___; for crying when i'm genuinely sad and T__T for crying when i'm in the 'why do you bully me/tormented' sort of mood.

[auroraayanami]

My T__T mystery has been solved! Thanks for clearing things up~

And the way you described it, T_T seems to correlate with the case instances timexsocial is talking about below for ㅠㅠ. I simply learned that it meant "crying", no specifics of what kind of crying though. So yaay, envious mean crying FTW.

[timexsocial]

ㅎㅎ is like a standard laugh
ㅋㅋㅋ is kkk/keke where you actually giggling
ㅠㅠ is more like envious? idk but i see it often when netizen commenting on how cute/pretty something is.

[cathydmoon]

Oh, I see now. I used to think ㅎㅎ is a type of face for something. *LOL*
So, T_T is like one tear stream and ㅠㅠ, two tear streams then. Hmmm. *contemplative*

[laynamarya]

Also, some of my favorites:

^^ or related emoticons are smiley faces.

^^;; means you did something stupid and feel embarrassed (the semicolons are sweat)

d^^b means good job (double thumbs up)

But my all-time favorite is OTL. OTL is a picture of a guy banging his head on the ground. The O is the head, the T is the body and arms (hands on the ground) and the L is the legs (knees and feet on the ground). Very visual. Should be used sparingly.

If you google 'korean emoticons' you can find longer lists.

[cathydmoon]

Whoa! OTL sounds like a fun one. I'll definitely google Korean emoticons and see what else I can get. I thought they had some other name. Thanks for helping!

[madelyn93]

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ~ you're obviously not asian ㅅㅂㅅ

i think its funny how everyone is analysing ㅠㅠ
it's just eyes with tears. you could cry tears or envy or tears of joy or tears of sadness. it just depends on what context you pair it with ┐('～`；)┌

(this may not be korean, but here's my favourite emoitcon ever!
囧
that's actually a chinese word.
and look, pair it with another chinese word and it becomes a turtle! 囧興)

yeah, asians abuse a little too much ヽ(´▽`)/

[madelyn93]

and no, i don't usually use that many emoticons.
i was just on a sugar high.

[allthingsgood]

囧 is my favorite emoticon ever, hahahaha.

[cathydmoon]

I quite like 囧 too. But now I'm curious...how does 囧興 make it become a turtle? *perplexed*

[jajikimbap]

ㅋ is more like khh khh khh, it's how I (and my umma) laugh mostly. Usually accompanied by some snorts or knee slapping lol.

[cathydmoon]

Oh, I see now. Thanks for helping!