emoticon/smiley, emoji icons, orz , “Face with Tears of Joy”

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Could this be the world's earliest smiley face? Archaeologists have found what appears to be a smiley face on a 3,700-year-old jug, centuries older than the 17th century legal document previously believed to contain the oldest smiley drawing. http://bit.ly/2udiQbD

Was the Oldest Smiley Found on a 3,700-Year-Old Jug?

A new archeological discovery may suggest the first known “smiley” is…

HYPERALLERGIC.COM

How Emojis Find Their Way to Phones
2009.7 Emoticon and orz

What is an emoticon?
An emoticon, also called a smilie, is a sequence of printable characters such as :), ^-^, or :-) or a small image that is intended to represent a human facial expression and convey an emotion. Emoticons are a form of paralanguage commonly used in email messages, in online bulletin boards, or in chat rooms. The word emoticon is a portmanteau based on emotion and icon.

Oxford Dictionaries named an emoji — 😂 or “Face with Tears of Joy” — as its 2015 Word of the Year.

But is it a word — and what does it say about our times? Discuss.

Since when is an emoji a word?

Oxford Dictionaries has named an emoji known as “Face with Tears of Joy” as its 2015 Word of the Year. But is it a word, and what does it say about our times?

NEWS.BERKELEY.EDU

表情符號，原本只是一種網上次文化，但隨著網際網路和行動電話簡訊的普及，已經為社會廣泛接受。
後來許多通訊程式（特別是即時通訊程式）及論壇開始應用更生動的小圖案（icon）來表示心情，因此20世紀末在英文中有新的詞彙來說明這些表情符號，即將情緒（Emotion）與小圖案（icon）兩個字巧妙地合併，成為新詞「Emoticon」。
日語則稱之為「顏文字」，「顏」字意為臉龐，「顏文字」這個詞的意思就是指用文字和符號組成表情或圖案來表達撰寫者的心情，此詞也逐漸為台灣的年輕人所採用。

Posture emoticons

orz (sometimes seen as _|￣|○, OTL Or2, On_, OTZ, O7Z, Sto, Jto, _no) is a Japanese emoticon representing a kneeling or bowing person, with the "o" being the head, the "r" being the arms and part of the body, and the "z" being part of the body and the legs. This "stick" figure represents failure and despair. It is also commonly (mis-)used for representing a great admiration for (sometimes with an overtone of sarcasm) someone else's view or action. This spawned a subculture in late 2004 .[3] It illustrates a person facing left, with the head looking down, and kneeling on the ground: the "o" symbolizes the head, the "r" represents the arms and the body while the "z" shows the legs. Though people generally use the pictograph to show that they have failed and/or they are in despair, some users use it to imply being doubled over in laughter. It is not to be read phonetically; the letters are spelled out. Orz should not be confused with m(_ _)m, which means an apology.
Orz is associated sometimes with the phrase "nice guy" — that is, the concept of males being rejected for a date by girls they are pursuing with a phrase like "You're a nice guy," or "I'd like to be your friend."
On imageboards, it has been used not only for failure and despair, but also as a symbol for the kowtow, illustrating a person bowing down in worship of a certain picture that was posted.

Emoticons published in the March 30, 1881 issue of Puck.

たんぽぽ茶: 気の向くままに～携帯ｂｌｏｇ
By ひろくま
今日のお茶は たんぽぽ茶(^_^)v ノンカフェインでカルシウムと鉄がたっぷり ・ たんぽぽ根・黒豆・醗酵ギンネム（ぎん茶） のブレンドだそうです(^o^)v いつもの プーアル茶とあまり違わないかなぁ… 2011年3月 5日 (土) | 固定リンク ...

:-o (Emoticon: "Oh, noooooo!") #:-o (Emoticon: "Oh, noooooo!")

o= (Emoticon: A burning candle to start a flame)

Texting Your Feelings, Symbol by Symbol

By NICK BILTON 49 minutes ago

The use of emoji icons can be baffling to American adults who, whether they realize it or not, are taking their social cues from Japanese teenagers.

smiley
noun [C]
an emoticon (= a sideways image of a face, consisting of keyboard symbols, which is used in emails to express emotions)