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I sometimes see Russian people add some ) to the end of sentences, and sometimes even many of them: )))).

I recently read:

In Russian: ))))))) is a loud laugh

So I wonder what it means when there's just one of them )? And is it a loud laugh when there are several of them?

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5 Answers 5

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Here are some links on this topic:

https://www.reddit.com/r/russian/comments/2p55os/why_do_a_lot_of_russian_people_use_smiley_faces/

https://www.reddit.com/r/russian/comments/1ppdyf/russians_and/

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-Russians-use-as-a-smiley-instead-of

I'm pretty sure I've seen this asked on this site before, but can't find the pages now.

The usage is entrenched now no matter what, but the reason explained by multiple sources is that the symbol : is ordinarily less convenient to produce on a Cyrillic keyboard [edit: you have to press two keys to get it, as the links above explain and as fedorqui points out in a comment below], so the colon in :) is simply left off.

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  • I don't quite understand the : symbol is ordinarily less convenient to produce on a Cyrillic keyboard. Does it mean it needs a difficult combination of keys to write it? Apparently it does.
    – fedorqui
    Sep 10, 2016 at 14:43
  • it's placed on a not very conveniently situated tab, but like on the English keyboard it too requires a combination with Shift
    – Баян Купи-ка
    Sep 10, 2016 at 15:43
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    In english keyboard : symbol requires two keys too: Shift+;.
    – Pavel Mayorov
    Sep 15, 2016 at 11:55
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    @PavelMayorov the row of the keyboard where the English : is located is lower than for a Cyrillic keyboard. The issue is not involving the Shift key but how far the fingers have to move next.
    – KCd
    Sep 15, 2016 at 12:35
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    The colon is above the 6 on Russian keyboards.
    – David42
    Sep 16, 2016 at 1:29
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It's a smiley :-) Lots of people are too lazy to type it. Multiple "))))" don't represent laughter — it's just a friendlier smile. :))

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  • 1
    they are not lazy, they are smart ;)
    – MolbOrg
    Sep 9, 2016 at 22:49
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    This only confirms that Russians rarely smile, and even when they do, it looks awkward :-/
    – ddbug
    Sep 10, 2016 at 14:20
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    the life doesn't predispose to happiness + cold climate + traits of national character
    – Баян Купи-ка
    Sep 10, 2016 at 17:33
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An answer from a native speaker:

We use ")" very often)

  • One parenthesis ")" means a friendly smile, for example, when you share good news or just say "hi". (dutiful smile)
  • Two or more ))) Russians commonly use them at the end of a humorous comment or cheerful story when we want to show how funny it was and to indicate that we're still laughing.
  • :] - a sly demon smile. When you've secretly eaten an entire container of ice cream by yourself]]]
  • :) - this is a satisfied, glad or pleased smile. It's more official than without the colon.
  • :D - "can you imagine!" We use this smile to stress that something previously mentioned was a good joke and we're surprised and proud of it. It's like "wow" and ")))" at the same time.
  • ^^ - means "Look at me, I'm a fine fellow", "Thanks to me, we nailed it", "Please, no applause necessary", "Don't make me blush" etc.
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I'm one of those who uses it. I mostly use ), )), ))) - more then that is a very rare exception.

The first is like slight smile; The second is like my smile lasted a second or so, yeah good; The third - my smile lasted a few seconds and I probably laughed, like this was really funny

More then that, I laughted a lot, and it was crazy as hell, so funny, I can't stop laughing, I'm having convulsions, etc.

I don't think they're a widely used convention, using myself as an example for my reasoning. So it's kind of a battery charging icon - low charge etc.

If you see a lot of ))))))) more than once a day, it's probably a girl, young, annoyed, not ready to reject you yet. I'm kidding) But when they're more serious, they do use another convention, which I don't know much about. I wouldn't take their smiles seriously, though)))

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  • What is the meaning of your last paragraph?
    – Lorraine
    Mar 21, 2019 at 15:46
  • @Wilson attempt to make a joke and provide more context to OP as it a more multifactorial problem which has at least two axis - not the only number of parenthesis defines the strength of laughs, but it also depends who uses those in which manner there are different groups of people using them in few different manners.
    – MolbOrg
    Mar 21, 2019 at 21:29
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really, guys? You're new in the Web? It's pretty obvious that :), -) or ) represents "smile". Using brackets without colon or something - it's just network negligence. Single bracket displays slight smile, multiple - close to laughing. It isn't "Russian style", it's "Network style". The way of self expression in short text format

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  • I have to agree. What an inane question in this day and age.
    – CocoPop
    Aug 4 at 15:00

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