( >^_^)> <(^_^< )

Alright--so a little research dug up that the first recorded emoticons came from message boards and email in universities when the Internet was beginning. These included the now-ubiquitous :-) and :-( . These are all read sideways, with the exception of umlaut faces. ö = :o The vertical faces, or verticons, are believed to have arisen from East Asia, due to their similarity to anime/manga faces. In addition, Asian keyboards have more characters, so more complex verticons are possible (plus, I believe Asians to be even more technology-crazy than Americans). Some examples from Wikipedia:

 （´・ω・｀）  Deflated
 （ ´Д｀）    Nonplussed, or panting
 （　ﾟДﾟ）    Semi-angry
┐('～`；)┌   Don't know the answer
 （´∀｀）     Carefree
    ^^       Very happy
 < ｀∀´>     Stereotypical Korean character
 m(_ _)m     Bowing
  (`ヘ´)　    Annoyed
 （　´_ゝ`）;  Snob
 Σ(゜д゜;)　  Dumfounded
  (*´Д`)     Become sexually excited

"Stereotypical Korean character"??!! OMG!! THAT'S AWFUL (but so funny).