Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2017 09:37:10 -0800
On Tue, Jan 24, 2017 at 9:12 AM, Leonardo Boiko <leoboiko_at_namakajiri.net>
wrote:
> I find it curious that this community defines the ":3" emoji as "mmmm" or
> "om nom nom". In my circles it's quite the frequent emoticon/emoji, but
> I've never seen it used this way.
>
I can kind of see how someone might get that impression. For example,
someone writing "om nom nom :3", and somebody who is unfamiliar with the
smiley's usage interpreting the meanings as linked, when the intent was
originally to express "I'm being silly".
> Instead, they usually employ it as "cat mouth" or "cat face", implying
> the mood of cuteness, perkiness or mischievousness. (This is distinct from
> U+1F431 CAT FACE in that it represents a human making a cat-like mouth, not
> an actual cat.) Here are a few images found through a web search for "cat
> face":
>
>
>
>
>
I think the expression from manga and anime is probably the origin of the
smiley. That's consistent with the communities and contexts where it's
found most often. And the "catlike expression" I think is meant to be more
metaphorical, rather than a depiction of an actual facial expression. Like
how 💢 is not meant to be an actual throbbing vein in the forehead.
