Emoticons and E-mail Shorthand

Smileys are tiny pictures made from ordinary ASCII characters that are meant to be looked at with the head tilted to the left.

Smileys came about when e-mail correspondents felt the need to convey emotional content such as sarcasm, laughter and other feelings as part of their messages.

Without smileys, simple statements could easily be misinterpreted:

You're an idiot! :-)

Sometime during 1981, Scott Fahlman, who is now a Principle Research Scientist in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, devised a scheme for encoding and conveying one's feelings as small text "glyphs" to overcome this frustration.

Scott was the first to use smileys in electronic mail and in posts to BBS message boards and Internet newsgroups, as well as in personal e-mail. The Emoticons :-) - Humor :-) (-: - Masking theatrical comments :-T - Keeping a straight face (tight-lipped) :-D - Said with a smile :-> - Alternate happy face :-) :-) :-) - Loud guffaw :*) - Clowning around :-? - Licking lips %-} - Silly :/) - Not funny :-" - Pursing lips :-r - Bleahhh (sticking tongue out) :-f - Smirks :-p - Smirks :-1 - Smirks :-, - Smirks :-| - Disgusted :-J - Tongue-in-cheek comments :-! - Foot in mouth :-$ - Put your money where your mouth is :-D - Talks too much :-I - Chewing on bone %&$%& - You know what that means... :-P - Shouting :-y - Shouting :-o - Shouting :-( - Unhappy :-c - Real unhappy (:-& - Anger (:^( - Broken nose (:<) - Blabber mouth ?-( - Black eye %-) - Broken glasses :-b - Tongue stuck out :-p - Left-handed tongue stuck out >--->---(@ - A rose ||*( - Handshake offered ||*) - Handshake accepted :-x - Kiss kiss o= - A burning candle to start a flame ~= - Flaming message -= - A doused candle to end a flame |-<> - Kissy face [] - Hug (-_-) - Secret smile '-) - Wink ;-) - Say no more; nudge, nudge :-* - Oops! (Covering mouth with hand) :-# - Censored :-8 - Talking out both sides of your mouth >:> - Leer :-X - Not saying a word (:-... - Heart-breaking message... :-o - "Oh, noooooo!" (a la Mr. Bill) #:-o - Same as previous ...---... - S.O.S. :-< - Forlorn |-( - Late night messages (:-$ - Ill (:-( - Sad %- - Hung over :~/ - All mixed up #-) - Another all-night partier :-'| - With a cold %+{ - Loser in a fight ( ) - You're kidding! <:-O - Eeek! :-C - Unbelieving (jaw dropped) :-(*) - About to vomit
E-mail Shorthand 2U2 - To You, Too AAMOF - As A Matter Of Fact AFAIK - As Far As I Know AFAIC - As Far As I'm Concerned AFAICT - As Far As I Can Tell AFK - Away From Keyboard ASAP - As Soon As Possible BAK - Back At Keyboard BBL - Be Back Later BITMT - But In The Meantime BOT - Back On Topic BRB - Be Right Back BTW - By the way C4N - Ciao For Now CRS - Can't Remember "Stuff" CU - See You CUL(8R) - See You Later CWOT - Complete Waste Of Time CYA - See Ya DIY - Do It Yourself EOD - End Of Discussion EZ - Easy F2F - Face To Face FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions FBOW - For Better Or Worse FOAF - Friend Of A Friend FOCL - Falling Off Chair Laughing FWIW - For What It's Worth FYA - For Your Amusement FYI - For Your Information /ga - Go Ahead GAL - Get A Life GBTW - Get Back To Work GFC - Going For Coffee GFETE - Grinning From Ear To Ear GMTA - Great minds think alike GR&D - Grinning, Running & Ducking GTG - Got To Go GTGTTBR - Got To Go To The Bathroom GTRM - Going To Read Mail HAND - Have A Nice Day HHOK - Ha Ha Only Kidding HTH - Hope This Helps IAC - In Any Case IAE - In Any Event IC - I See IDGI - I Don't Get It IMCO - In My Considered Opinion IMHO - In my humble opinion IMNSHO - in My Not So Humble Opinion IMO - In My Opinion IMPE - In My Personal Experience IMVHO - In My Very Humble Opinion IOW - In Other Words IRL - In Real Life ISP - Internet Service Provider IYKWIM - If You Know What I Mean JIC - Just In Case J/K - Just kidding KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid L8TR - Later LD - Later dude LOL - Laughing Out Loud LTNS - Long Time No See MorF - Male or Female, or person who asks that question MTCW - My Two Cents Worth NRN - No Reply Necessary ONNA - Oh No, Not Again! OTOH - On The Other Hand OTTOMH - Off the top of my head OIC - Oh I See OTF - On The Floor OLL - Online Love PLS - Please PU - That Stinks! REHI - Hello Again (re-Hi!) ROFL - Rolling On Floor Laughing ROTF - Rolling On The Floor ROTFL - Rolling On The Floor Laughing RSN - Real Soon Now RTDox - Read The Documentation/Directions RTFM - Read The Frickin' Manual RUOK - Are You OK? SNAFU - Situation Normal; All Fouled Up SO - Significant Other SOL - Smiling Out Loud (or Sh*t Out of Luck) TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch TAFN - That's All For Now TEOTWAWKI - The End Of The World As We Know It THX - Thanks TIA - Thanks In Advance TLK2UL8R - Talk to you later TMK - To My Knowledge TOS - Terms Of Service TPTB - The Powers That Be TSWC - Tell Someone Who Cares TTBOMK - To The Best Of My Knowledge TTFN - Ta-Ta For Now TTYL(8R) - Talk To You Later TWIMC - To Whom It May Concern Txs - Thanks URL - Web Page Address w/b - Welcome Back w/o - Without WRT - With Regard To WTG - Way To Go WU? - What's Up? WWW - World Wide Web WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get Y2K - Year 2000 YGIAGAM - Your Guess Is As Good As Mine YGWYPF - You Get What You Pay For
 

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