The English words “emotion” and “icon” form the term emoticon.
Short strings of symbols, letters or numbers are intended to represent facial expressions and postures.
Emoticons can liven up the text and convey moods or emotional states.
:-D means laughing or a big grin. If surprised, we use :-O and <3 stands for the heart and feelings.
The archetype of the emoticon is the stick man face.
In 1982, a misunderstood joke among physicists led to the question of how irony might be characterized in written communication.
Scott Fohlman then suggested the combination :-) with an instruction to tilt one’s head to read it.