# What does J mean at the end of emails?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-j-mean-at-the-end-of-emails/581300>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 9, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-j-mean-at-the-end-of-emails/581300 "2011-05-09T17:47:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-j-mean-at-the-end-of-emails/581300/1 "2011-05-09T17:47:54Z")

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I know a couple of people who do this, but I don’t know what it means. Neither of them are peeps I feel comfortable asking. Anyone know?

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**Author:** ![baileygrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@baileygrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baileygrrrl)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-j-mean-at-the-end-of-emails/581300/2 "2011-05-09T17:51:06Z")

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I see this on emails from my husband in gmail - when I click “show details”, I see that it’s a smiley that he typed - like this - 🙂

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**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-j-mean-at-the-end-of-emails/581300/3 "2011-05-09T17:55:38Z")

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> [@Brynda](#):
>
> I know a couple of people who do this, but I don’t know what it means. Neither of them are peeps I feel comfortable asking. Anyone know?

Their names aren’t by chance John or Joan or Jim, are they?

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**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-j-mean-at-the-end-of-emails/581300/4 "2011-05-09T17:56:20Z")

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Yeah, when the message is composed in Outlook and someone types a smiley, it is converted to the corresponding letter (“J”) in Wingdings font, so when the font information is lost or ignored in another email program, it shows up as a plain old J.

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**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-j-mean-at-the-end-of-emails/581300/5 "2011-05-09T17:59:50Z")

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Ah! Mystery solved. Thanks much!

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**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-j-mean-at-the-end-of-emails/581300/6 "2011-05-09T19:37:57Z")

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OMG, I’ve been wondering this for so long! I’d figured out that it meant something akin to a smiley, but I couldn’t figure out what the relationship between the smiley and the letter J was! Thanks for explaining, **ReticulatingSplines** , and thanks for thinking to ask, **Brynda**!