Where it comes from
It is an East Asian-style emoticon read upright, not sideways like Western :-| : the two hyphens are narrowed eyes and the underscore is a flat mouth. It is especially common in Korean and Japanese chat.
When to use it
Use it for eye-roll moments, bad puns or mild irritation. It can feel cold, so avoid it in a reply to your boss.
Examples
- That pun was terrible -_-
- You're 40 minutes late -_-
Variants to copy
What it is made of
Every character in the face with its Unicode code point — handy if one shows up as a box on a friend's phone.
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U+002Dhyphen-minus_
U+005Flow line