How do you pronounce the weirdest emoticon on the internet? The debate continues to rage
It's a question that's more than three years old, but we're still asking it today: How do you pronounce ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)?
Some questions, it seems, are nearly impossible to answer. This one has spawned a series of YouTube videos all striving for a conclusion to the debate. The meme simply refuses to go away.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), known as Le Lenny Face on 4chan, appears everywhere nowadays. It got its start in forums and message boards, where it was used to spam the original poster or the discussion in general. The meteoric rise of ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) on the internet led to this video.
The video features the Lenny Face dancing around in sync to the lyrics of "Booty Man" by Tim Wilson. Since it was uploaded, it's racked up over four million views and tons of parody videos.
It also launched a YouTube investigation as to what ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) sounds like, really.
YouTuber Spewaks made a version of the meme complete with a jump scare at the end.
Someone asked Google how to pronounce ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
Somebody asked Siri as well.
A few months ago, the YouTube account EBS Tutorials made their own guide as to how to pronounce ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). Known for his ridiculous pronunciations of English words, Stéaviñ did not disappoint when it came to the Lenny Face.
Finally, a couple weeks ago a trend took hold of the internet in which people created music out of MIDI files are arranged in the form of an image. Put two and two together, and we get the MIDI version of how to pronounce ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
Will we ever know how to pronounce this face? Should we continue to sink our efforts into this question?
We'll have to wait for the internet to decide.
Christine is a Web Culture Intern at Mashable. She has previously written for FanSided and Saturday Down South. She has a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego and an M.S. from Hunter College. Before she started writing, she worked in education as a teacher and school leader for four years. Her special talents include being able to quote The Office on command, playing non-stop Overwatch for hours, and composing only the wittiest of Tweets (her own opinion).
