What does ^^; mean?


I was reading through this one [question](https://okwave.jp/qa/q8115160.html)
on OKWAVE that was asking people what they thought of Japan’s education
system. It’s a pretty long read, but it does have interesting parts to it. For
instance, the questioner is trying to get one answerer to give an opinion on
Japan’s education system, which is not as easy as he thinks. So the answerer
starts off with the following:

> 文脈に無理を感じますが・・・^^;
>
> Translation (may or may not be spot-on): I find it impossible to do in
> context, but… ^^;

I know that ^^; is an emoji/emoticon, but finding out more about it is proving
to be difficult. The Google search bar is terrible at looking up these symbols
in punctuation form. There are websites that list these symbols, but they seem
to make looking up one of these symbols harder than it has to be.

So, let me ask you, what does ^^; mean?




> ^^;

It's a Japanese emoticon (顔文字) that developed into this emoji (U+1F605 SMILING
FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH AND COLD SWEAT). In Japanese, such expression is called
苦笑い ([Google
images](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E8%8B%A6%E7%AC%91%E3%81%84&tbm=isch)),
which people make when they can't smile wholeheartedly because of some mixed
feelings, or they actually has something to say, but let it go with the flow
for the time being. Note that the sweat drop on the (top) right doesn't mean
real sweating, rather is an iconic sign of perplexity.

The emoticon could be used in any context you'd do 苦笑い, including when you got
too much compliment, when you didn't fully agree with someone's (quite
radical) opinion, or when your waitstaff misunderstood your order in a funny
way, etc. etc.

* * *

**PS**

It's the most keystroke-saving variant of its kind, while we also have:

[code]

    ^_^;    (^_^;)    (＾-＾；)    (￣▽￣;)
    
[/code]

[and more](http://aa-kao.majinak.com/article/163916600.html)...




> ^^;

It's a Japanese emoticon (顔文字) that developed into this emoji (U+1F605 SMILING
FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH AND COLD SWEAT). In Japanese, such expression is called
苦笑い ([Google
images](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E8%8B%A6%E7%AC%91%E3%81%84&tbm=isch)),
which people make when they can't smile wholeheartedly because of some mixed
feelings, or they actually has something to say, but let it go with the flow
for the time being. Note that the sweat drop on the (top) right doesn't mean
real sweating, rather is an iconic sign of perplexity.

The emoticon could be used in any context you'd do 苦笑い, including when you got
too much compliment, when you didn't fully agree with someone's (quite
radical) opinion, or when your waitstaff misunderstood your order in a funny
way, etc. etc.

* * *

**PS**

It's the most keystroke-saving variant of its kind, while we also have:

[code]

    ^_^;    (^_^;)    (＾-＾；)    (￣▽￣;)
    
[/code]

[and more](http://aa-kao.majinak.com/article/163916600.html)...

