Smiley

Using ascii characters to represent a face or emotion.  Smileys
are ususlly used in [[email]] messages or in [[chat]].

Some basic examples:

  :-)      is a smile
  :-(      is a frown
  :-P      has a lolling tongue
  ;-)      is winking
  B-)      has sunglasses
  :-o      surprise

...there are a lot of possibilities, people are very good at interpreting pictures as faces.  See [[Ascii Art]], maybe [[Electronic communications]], [[Emote]], or [[Emoticon]].