On more than one occasion I have written about my affinity for emoticons (here and here). While my love and heavy use for these cartoonish images run deep, there is a subcategory that I am obsessed with the most…the faces! I completely litter my text messages with the fun and silly expressions on yellow circles. Ahhh, the small lengths it takes to entertain me.

I use a wide variety of the faces. However, some particular ones I absolutely abuse. In tonight’s blog post I would like to recognize the five emoticon faces that I use way too much (presented in no particular order):

I am a real big fan of emoticon faces.

The Classic Smiley

Who doesn’t love the classic smiley?

Let me start my list off with the most boring face to dominate my text messages. Even though it is the most prevalent and cliché emoticon, it is a classic and I love what it stands for. You can pretty much say whatever nasty thing you want in a text but if you stick in the classic smiley at the end you are good to go. But that is not the way I utilize it. Rather, I stick in the face to say “okay” or I use it in response to something funny that my texting partner wrote. I will use it if I write something that might sound hostile over text but really isn’t or I will use it at the very end of a texting conversation. You just can’t go wrong with it no matter how you use it.

Tongue Out Winking Smiley 

This is a great emoticon for when you are in a silly mood.

I enjoy using this face because I think it is a sillier upgrade on the winky face without the smile. If I am making an especially outrageous joke this is my go-to emoticon. If I want to lighten the mood with someone I also might send a few of these my recipient’s way. I mean how do you dislike this emoticon? It is cute, simple, and fun.

The Scream 

The Scream emoticon is my absolute favorite.

Without a doubt, this is by far my most favorite emoticon face. I love the way it looks and I love how it is so dramatic. I really think it carries with it a lot of power. Sometimes I abuse this power and overuse it way too much just because I think it is hilarious to do. But in normal conversation if someone says something surprising or if I drop some breaking news I am sticking it in. With Halloween coming up I will be using It more than usual because it fits the holiday perfectly. If you are reading this right now and you text me The Scream emoticon you will make me smile ear-to-ear.

Mouth Zipped Shut

I am not saying a word.

I find myself using this one quite a bit. Usually I select the mouth zipped shut emoticon face in three situations:
1. I don’t know what to say back to what you said.
2. I am not 100% positive what you said was the truth.
3. I want to end the conversation.

But if I send it your way don’t automatically think I am doing it to be negative. Sometimes I just send it to mess with the other person.

Overdramatic Pouty Face

I get a kick out of the overdramatic faces.

This is another face that I like to use because of its dramatic nature. One glance at it and you can immediately sense hysteria and disappointment. If someone denies me or if they report that something bad happened to them, I like to respond with the overdramatic pouty face. When people send it my way, I always immediately visualize what that face would look like on them if they were actually doing it while sending it off.

Honorable Mention:
Sunglasses Smiley Face

Sunglasses

I have taken a real liking to this emoticon. I will send it completely out of the blue during conversations just because I think it looks cool. This explains the reason why I didn’t place it in my top five; I don’t have a specific use for it, I just send it off because I dig the sunglasses look.

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So there you have it. Please know that it is always acceptable to use emoticons, especially the emoticon faces, with me. Earlier I encouraged you to text me the Scream face. How about we broaden this a little more: If you liked this blog post, send me an emoticon face. If you did not like this blog post, send me the thumbs down emoticon! Oh how I love reader interaction. Don’t Blink.