Where it comes from
It comes from Japanese 2channel culture, where it is typically paired with フーン ("hmm") and is known as the face of the ASCII-art characters 流石兄弟 (the Sasuga brothers). ゝ is a hiragana repetition mark used as a lopsided mouth.
When to use it
Use it as a deadpan reaction to bragging or obvious news, mostly among friends who get the joke. It can feel dismissive, so avoid it when someone shares something they care about.
Examples
- You got a new phone? ( ´_ゝ`) cool I guess
- Oh the sequel is delayed again ( ´_ゝ`)
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.
(
U+0028left parenthesis´
U+00B4acute accent_
U+005Flow lineゝ
U+309Dhiragana iteration mark`
U+0060grave accent)
U+0029right parenthesis