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英文的emoticons就是上圖這種可愛的flash art.一開始本來是指那些圓圓的笑臉表情smilies

後來只要是類似的設計都可以叫做emoticons. 

Computers Are Becoming Cupid's Best Weapon

                                 

A question: How did you meet your romantic partner? Friends have long been society's top matchmakers媒人, with help from parents and co-workers, but they're all losing ground to輸給… the Internet. A new study finds nearly a quarter of couples meet online.

As NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports, the Web may soon become the number one way Americans find a mate.

JENNIFER LUDDEN: Technology hasn't shaken up動搖/巨變 the dating scene this much since the invention of the telephone. But Michael Rosenfeld of Stanford University says even that doesn't compare.

Professor MICHAEL ROSENFELD (Department of Sociology, Stanford University): The telephone made it easier to be in contact, but only really with the people you already knew. That is, you wouldn't pick up the phone and call somebody you didn't know, it would be awkward.

LUDDEN: But Rosenfeld says those connecting online are most often complete strangers, not even friends of friends. Though, of course, dating sites reveal a great deal about them.

Dr. NICOLE ADAMS (Psychologist): You know level of income, life goals, interests, likes, dislikes.

LUDDEN: Nicole Adams is a 35-year-old psychologist in New York and has been dating online while going through a divorce.

Dr. ADAMS: You also kind of want to weed out剷除/過濾 the real...

Dr. ADAMS: ...crazy people, for lack of a better term找不到更好的說法.

LUDDEN: Sure, she says, people used to trust family and friends to consider all that and come up with誕生/產生 a good match.

Dr. ADAMS: But nobody really, really knows what I like, except me.

LUDDEN: Adams says she appreciates being able to reach out to people she'd never encounter in her own social circles社交圈, including those from different religions and ethnicities種族. Then she says there is this very practical aspect實際面: Web dating saves a lot of time.

Adams says if she does meet someone through friends or family, even if sparks don't fly沒有火花, she's more likely to suffer through忍受著去.. a few more dates and let him down gently委婉拒絕對方.

Dr. ADAMS: Whereas online dating, you don't have any of that pressure. If you meet him and something happens to him, mm, next. Thanks a lot, it's been real.

LUDDEN: Ouch. But the smaller the pool of potential partners可能的對象, the more important those Web contacts may be. Researcher Rosenfeld found a whopping巨大的/異常(多或大的) 61 percent of same-sex同性 couples meet online.

Prof. ROSENFELD: So the internet is friend to everybody who is looking for something that's hard to find. And that's true whether you're looking for parts for a '57 Chevy or a partner who has some attributes特質 that are uncommon.

LUDDEN: On the other hand, a recent Duke University study finds online daters are disproportionately不成比例的 white and well-educated; partly because fewer minorities have a computer at home. But that study also predicted Web-dating will continue to grow, as online access expands and successful couples spread the word放話(好或壞都可，口碑或是惡評).

Stanford University's Rosenfeld says it's all easing a social stigma社會的污名.

Prof. ROSENFELD: It used to be that people who met online had a separate story that they thought was more palatable好聽的/讓人聽了覺得愉快的(此字原指美味的). It seemed a little seedy下流或低級的 and unseemly不得體的, and for some reason people used to think that it was more upstanding得體/妥當的(此字原指正直或是挺立的意思) to say I met him in a bar.

LUDDEN: Bars, by the way, along with restaurants and other public areas are still the third most likely place for couples to meet. Although Rosenfeld says when you speak to people, it turns out many met there after first encountering each other online.

Jennifer Ludden, NPR News.