2.7. Emoticons (AKA smileys)

Also known as “smileys” although some of them are not smiling! Created with punctuation marks and intended to be viewed ‘sideways’ to represent little faces. People have invented dozens of the things, but we suggest you keep your enthusiasm under control and limit yourselves to the following commonly understood emoticons.

or Happy > add this to signify you made a joke
Really happy
or Winking – Sarcasm > add this to signify you don’t really mean what you just wrote
or Unhappy > express your dislike of whatever you just wrote about
Resigned > if you’re not sure how to react to something, this might do it
:-/ Similar to the “Resigned” sign; perplexed (?)
:-\ I’m undecided
8-# I’m dead

There are also a few “non-smileys”.

Grin
Big Grin
Evil Grin

For more information, visit one or more of the following websites:

http://www.netlingo.com/

http://www.mcfedries.com/Ramblings/usenet-primer.html

http://www.noodlebug.demon.co.uk/nuggets/acronym.htm

http://www.albion.com/netiquette/index.html

http://www.darkmountain.com/netiquette/index.shtml

Posted in: 2. Usenet