Internet Lingo
- Abbreviations and Icons -

An emoticon (also known as a "smiley") is a symbol composed of a few text characters, and used as a kind of emotional shorthand to add meaning to a message.  For example, an emoticon may be used at the end of a comment to indicate that the comment was not intended to be taken seriously.  Most emoticons are designed to be interpreted with the viewer's head tilted over to the left.

A huge number of emoticons have been devised, but it is probably best to keep to the first eight categories in the list shown below.  The last three emoticons in the list are just examples of some of the strange ones that people have created.

Emoticon Interpretation

:-)  :)  :->  :>

Smiling, happy faces;
showing happiness, or for comments not intended to be taken seriously.

:-(  :(  :-<  :<

Sad, disappointed faces.

;-)  ;)  ;->  ;>

Winking happy faces; for comments said tongue-in-cheek.

:-p  :-P

Faces with tongues stuck out at you.

8-)  8)  B-)  B)

Smiling faces from someone who wears glasses or sunglasses,
or has a wide-eyed look.
The "glasses" can also be used in the emoticons:  8-(  8-p

>:-)

A devil with a grin; for those devilish remarks.

O:-)

An angel with a halo; for those innocent remarks.

<:-)

Wearing a dunce's cap; for those stupid questions.

m(_ _)m

Deep bow used for apologizing or expressing thanks
(viewed from the front).

<<<<(:-)

The message is from a hat seller.

%-^

The message is from a Pablo Picasso fan.

Acronyms are that strange type of shorthand that people use as a form of "quickspeak". Some people use it everyday while others struggle and end up looking here to find out what other people's acronyms mean in email, newsgroups and chat rooms. So for those of you who haven't yet mastered the net acronyms, which includes myself, here's a list of some of the most frequently used . . .

AFAIK - "As Far As I Know"

AKA - "Also Known As"

ASAP - "As Soon As Possible"

BTW - "By The Way"

BRB - "Be Right Back"

CUL - "See You Later"

FAQ - "Frequently asked questions"

FYI - "For Your Information"

FWIW - "For What It's Worth"

IANAL - "I Am Not A Lawyer (But...)"

IDK - "I don't know"

IMHO - "In My Humble Opinion"

IMO - "In My Opinion"

IYKWIM - "If You Know What I Mean"

LOL - "Laughing Out Loud"

OK - abbreviation of "oll korrect", alteration of "all correct" : al

OTOH - "On The Other Hand"

PMFJI -"Pardon Me For Jumping In" (a polite way to join a running discussion)

PMJI - "Pardon My Jumping In" (another polite way to join a running discussion)

TIA - "Thanks In Advance"

TPTB - "The Powers That Be"

TTFN - "Ta Ta For Now"

ROFL or ROTFL - "Rolling On The Floor Laughing"

SWALK - "Sealed With A Loving Kiss"

SPAM - "Stupid Persons' AdvertiseMent "

WRT - "With Respect To"

Emoticons are another part of the unique language that the Net has adopted. Viewed sideways these are smilies used for adding emotion to a sentence and minimising word usage for quick communication. Here are some universally accepted emoticons and their meanings.

:-) - Grin - Because nobody can hear voice inflection in written email, this smiley is used to inflect a sarcastic or joking statement.

:-( or :-< - Frown - The user did not like that last statement or is upset or depressed about something

:-I - Indifferent - Better than a :-( but not quite as good as a :-)

;-) - Wink - The user just made a flirtatious and/or sarcastic remark. More of a "don't hit me for what I just said" smiley

:-> - The user just made a really biting, sarcastic remark. Worse than a ;-)

>:-> - The user just made a really devilish remark

:-O - Shock -

:'-( - Crying -

:-& - Tongue-tied -

]:o - Cow -

Let Us Know of Anything to Add...

[ Back to our Home Page ]


This page was last updated on June 16, 2002 -