Smiley: What does 3 mean?

With the flood of smileys that persists on the Internet, you can quickly lose track of things. In this practical tip, we explain what the ": 3" smiley means.

: 3 - what does this smiley mean?

• As is customary for smileys, this also represents a face if you turn it 90 degrees to the right.
• The colon stands for the eyes and the three for the mouth - together, this results in a smiling face.
• However, the smiley is also usually used at the same time to tell the other person that you feel flattered - for example, in response to a compliment or as an expression of embarrassment.
• The usage varies with the clerk. The ": 3" smiley can also be used as an adequate match for the ":)" smiley, as a trivialization or for variety.
• The smiley is based on the face of a ("smiling") cat, hence the use of the "3" instead of the bracket ")".

We will explain what the "xD" smiley means in the next practical tip.