An Overview Of The Best Emoticons And Where You Could Find Them

Emoticons, also called smileys, are "emotional icons" mainly used for messaging. They are contemporary glyph shapes that are used to add both emotion & style to email, instant messaging, social networks, forums or other form of communication on a PC, smart phones and tablets. When used well, emotions, can efficiently add the subtleties of facial expression, body language and vocal inflection to written notes. 

Best common emoticons are:

There are hundreds of emoticons available today so we’ve picked a list of some of the top or most popular ones. They include but are not limited to:

:-C Astonished

:-D Laughing

:-c Very unhappy

: p~~ I'm drooling
:-o Surprised look or yawn

:-O Open-mouthed or surprised

:-6 Exhausted
:-9 Licking lips
:-? Tongue in cheek or Licking lips.
:-@ Screaming

|I Asleep

|-| Asleep
|^o Snoring
}: [ Angry or frustrated 

}-) Wry smile
}{ Face to face

(:& Angry

(-: Left-handed smile.

() Hugging

(( )):** Hugs & kisses 
((())) Lots of hugging (name or initials can be inserted in the middle of the person being hugged)

%*} Very drunk 
%+{ Lost a fight

%+\ Out-to-lunch, Messed up, Scrambled or Spaced out

(.V.)    Alien
O:-)    Angel
X-(    Angry
~:0    Baby
:-D    Big Grin
(*v*)    Bird
:-#    Braces
</3    Broken Heart
=^.^=    Cat
*<:o)    Clown
O.o    Confused
B-)    Cool
:_(    Crying
:'(    Crying
\:D/    Dancing
*-*    Dazed
:o3    Dog
#-o    Doh!
:*)    Drunk
//_^    Emo
>:)    Evil Grin
<><    Fish
:-(    Frown
:(    Frown
:-(    Frowning
=P    Frustrated
:-P    Frustrated
8-)    Glasses
$_$    Greedy
:->    Grin
=)    Happy
:-)    Happy

:)    Happy
#    Hashtag
<3    Heart
{}    Hug
:-|    Indifferent
X-p    Joking
:-)*    Kiss
:-*    Kiss
(-}{-)    Kissing
XD    Laughing
=D    Laughing Out Loud
)-:    Left-handed Sad Face
(-:    Left-handed Smiley Face
<3    Love
=/    Mad
:-)(-:    Married
@    Mention
<:3)~    Mouse
~,~    Napping
:-B    Nerd
^_^    Overjoyed
<l:0    Partying
:-/    Perplexed
=8)    Pig
@~)~~~~    Rose
=(    Sad
:-(    Sad
:(    Sad
:S    Sarcastic
:-@    Screaming
=O    Shocked
:-o    Shocked
:-)    Smile
:)    Smile
:-Q    Smoking
:>    Smug
:P    Sticking Tongue Out
:o    Surprised
:-J    Tongue in Cheek
:-&    Tongue Tied
=-O    Uh-oh
:-\    Undecided
:-E    Vampire
=D    Very Happy
;-)    Winking
;)    Winking
|-O    Yawn
8-#    Zombie

Where do I find emoticons?

In most cases, these symbols come already attached to the program you’re using. 

On Facebook

To add emoticons smileys, you need to first compose a status update or simply click inside the status update box. Next up, check the bottom of the update box and click the happy face icon found to the right of the camera icon. You will see a menu that lets you select varied activities or feelings, and each option has sub-menu with a handful of pictures.

Download sources

There are hundreds of websites that offer an array of different emoticons for download. All you simply need is to visit the site and follow the procedure. Note that some may be offering the smileys for free www.smileyswebs.com while others might charge you a small fee. 

Check forums

You can also check and respond to posts in various forums online and you might see many different emoticons which you can use. The smileys available may depend on the forum.