I began using emoticons, and found the list of them on the Internet:List of emoticons - Wikipedia.
Do you think that all the emoticons in the list can be used without causing confusion? Are there any emoticons that have different meanings?
:-/
Does the above mean “undecided” or “skeptical”?
“skeptical, annoyed, uneasy” according to the same Wikipedia article.
In pure text messages, I only use the most common ones (:), :D, :(, ;), :s) to not cause confusion. But on MSN etc (where the emoticons are displayed graphically) I use several others.
I still find it weird using them, in either form.
It seems I use only :))), :p, gg and eg. Also I started to use “涙” ＆ “笑” (my tutor Emma always use them). Hmm… the range of my emotions is quite narrow…
In Japan we use different kind of emoticons.
Like (^^)/ (^｡^) (^O^) for smiling, and (^^;) , (~_~;) for embarrassed smiling.
You don’t have to turn your head vertically with these emoticons. (^-^)v
There’s something pleasingly manga-like about Japanese emoticons!
I’ve been wondering about the global applicability of Skype emoticons. I always use the steaming mug for “I’m having a cup of tea now” but find that the Americans think it means “coffee” and I don’t know what it translates to in non-hot drink consuming countries. I take the thumbs up to mean “OK” but there may be parts of the world where that means something rude. And there really ought to be one which means “irony” …but of course North Americans don’t understand that. (Ducks quickly under computer table)
I am now skeptical about using emoticons. 
I thought that " :-/ " means “どうかなあ(undecided),” but in the above list it is supposed to mean “skeptical, annoyed, uneasy.” In another article on the Wikipedia site, " :-/ " is not included in the list of “Common western examples,” where there is a category of “Bored, awkward or annoyed …” and " :-\ " is included in it. I think that we should only use a few emoticons that can be understood intuitively.
Of course, we British can’t use emoticons, because we don’t emote! Our faces only ever show a polite smile or a puzzled frown 
We always use emotions in Russia! And we like making our own smiles
Like… O,o - the owl, or O,O - the vampire
- I dead
_ wow! I look forward
and others. Of course, traditional like , O_O, Т_т etc we use too XЪ