Many thanks to Doremi fansubs for pointing to a pic (also attached below) to explain what "orz" means. Ms Nekomimimeido explains "In conclusion, this is what it’s all about…" - orz means がっくり (to drop on one’s knees, connotating some kind of negative emotional impact).
Really quite fascinating as this is the first time I have seen letters of the English alphabet being used to form a Japanese-related ideogram (with English pronunciation values, though probably spoken as oh-ru-zu “gakkuri” or “mou miterannai” by Japanese fandom -thanks, Matthew!). As seen from the explanatory diagram above, it’s like the reverse process of one of those pictures being stylised into a ideographic character which I think involves a higher order of imaginative and creativity than l33t or emoticons. ^_-
ooooo,.. interesting! finally i kno wat tat orz was…xD
From what I’ve read it’s generally read as “gakkuri” or “mou miterannai”. Pretty much how I felt after we (the University of Georgia football team) lost to Auburn last night on the last play of the game ＿|￣|○
Thanks, Matthew! Have amended my post accordingly.
Good example is 2ch(s) Densha Otoko: OTL (I’ll edit more later when I get a chance to add the face =D)
A lady who lives in my town in Maine has a vanity plate on her car - GAKKURI. She will not explain why. Help!
also read: kuzureta otoko (literally, broken down man)
some pronounce: oh ru tzu, like you stated before. apparently not everyone, though.
PS: gakkuri = sortof like, you realized something (IE: you did something stupid and just recently realized it…) and it made you feel sad… but in a lame way. Like, “OMG, I am sad because I am lame…”
other uses–> someone else says something dumb or out of the blue (random) and it leaves you feeling like… -_-;……….
difficult to explain odd japanese emotions… lol. :\ maybe it’s just something inherited with the blood… *shrugs*
mikan36, thanks for the elaboration! :)