Where it comes from
The = signs are drooping, barely open eyelids, and _ is a flat, lifeless mouth. It is an upright East Asian-style kaomoji.
When to use it
Use it after long days, late nights, dull meetings or endless homework. It's fine almost anywhere casual, but in work chat it may sound like you're complaining.
Examples
- Pulled an all-nighter for this report (=_=)
- Third meeting in a row (=_=)
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+003Dequals sign_
U+005Flow line)
U+0029right parenthesis