Guide to Special Symbols =D

*Note on the concept as a whole: These symbols are not supposed to be too looked-into or analyzed. For the most part, they are meant to add another small (side) dimension to the emotion or satire of a bit, or perhaps to act as a gateway to a less obsessive, more 'open' type of thinking. They are very rarely meant to be essential to understanding the text or the ideas presented. If you don’t always understand the application of a particular symbol in a specific moment, or the symbol itself, or the general concept of why they're there, it’s not a big deal; I would just pass them over /> in fact, I oftentimes read them as just ‘D’ (the letter) or ‘p’ (lowercased letter) etc., just to ignore that confusion when I don’t immediately understand it, which brings me to my next point:

*Many of these are interrelated. A ‘D’ usually implies exuberant happiness, a ‘;’, a wink, a ‘P’ or ‘p’ a tongue (the uppercase being the bigger tongue of the two) etc. They can also usually be inferred by the sentence or paragraph they may be in or surrounded by. Again, these symbols are not meant to be a big deal, but if you care, they can be something of a learned concept; hence the existence of this page =/.

Guide to Special Symbols ><

:) Smiley face

:( Sad face

/> Abrupt cut-off/shot-switch/’quick-turn’. A quick thought-rush/persistent run-on meant to illustrate purposeful ranting, frustration or anger, oftentimes used in place of a period or comma (think of it as more ADD influenced)

;) Winky face

;D Exuberant winky face

:D Exuberant happiness (!!!) (also =D), used in variations

:’( Tear, cry (also =’( )

:’d tear, harder tear, more sad (more variations: x’(, X’(, x’d, X’d, =’d)

:/ An oftentimes self-deprecating ‘whatever’ (sometimes :// or =/ etc.meant to illustrate this feeling more/less potently)

;\ A much more chaotic/crazy/insane ‘whatever’

=P Tongue face, sometimes a lighthearted/satirical ‘fuck you’ (also :P, =p, :p, less intense)

#Hashtag A type of cultural Branding™ exorcise

:O Shock, open jaw, bro-down-toned “ooooohhhhhh’ like somebody just talked some horrible shit straight to someone’s face (also =O, =OOO etc., used for larger affect)

:o (or =o, :oooo etc.) Shock, but not as much of a shock as :O (or its variations)

o.O Interesting… ‘Ah-ha! (I-did-not-know-that)’, stink-eye

>< Squinty/scrunchy face

XD Exuberant squinty/scrunchy face, hard laugh

=// Angry face

>:= VERY angry face

B) Sunglasses, cool, sly

BD Fun but still cool and relaxed (also ‘BD, ‘,BD etc.)

B>:) Malicious, malevolent, evil (sometimes satirically) (also >:) or >:( in variations)

:^{|} Classic face (or, less often, a kiss)

<3 Heart

</3 Broken heart

:8) Blush

- In dialogue, quick cut off of the person speaking or the thought presented. Otherwise a quick thought cut-off

OMG Oh My God

BTW By The Way

FYI For Your Information

WTF What The Fuck

U You

LMFAO Laugh My Fucking Ass Off

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Arms raised like, ‘I dunno. Whatever. What’re you gonna do??’

(!) A quieter, more restrained exclamation than ! (also in variations such as (!!), (!!!), (!!(!!!)), etc.)

** New word, because I like to make up words :/

*IfUsedBeforeAPhraseOrTagWord: ‘Trumpism’ The hand gesture that famous Presidential Mockery Donald Trump would use in speeches and conversation to emphasize a particularly ‘factual’ *TheMostFactual remark or suggestion

*If used after a phrase, word or sentence: A quick note

[Example Sentence] Dialogue through a text message

(1) Citation ((2), (3), (4), etc.)

™ Trademark (fake/satirical (not legal /> if this symbol is meant to represent a legal trademark the word ‘legal’ will appear just after the trademarked word))

® Registered trademark (real (see above) ;)

> Less than or* a reference to thing just about to be mentioned or that will soon be mentioned

< More than or* a reference to thing just mentioned or previously mentioned

^ Reference to something in an above paragraph or previous thought/point

∞ Infinity

($) ...