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"{#}" was proposed because it looks like teeth showing. "\_/" was proposed because it looks like a smile.

I'm trying to visualise the first one, but the only thing which comes to mind is Jaws from the old James Bond films.

That's why they didn't catch on.... not very intuitive.

{#} would be a grinning mouth with teeth showing, and \__/ is a smiling mouth.

Interestingly, I've seen \_/ used these days to refer to a dumpster.

I've seen \,,/ to refer to the "rock" hand gesture.

And \\//, to refer to LLAP

The second one could be interpreted as a smiling mouth.

I think.