Common
abbreviations
Emoticons (or those funny-looking symbols)
Stymied by the acronymns and symbols
used by experience Net heads? Wonder no more.
Acronyms are endemic in the computer industry, and you'll
come across plenty on the Net, in particular in e-mail, IRC and newsgroups. Here's a guide
to the most common.
- brb: Be right back.
- btw: By the way.
- fwiw: For what it's worth.
- iow: In other words.
- imho: In my humble opinion.
- imnsho: In my not so humble opinion.
- lol: Laughing out loud.
- rotfl: Rolling on the floor laughing.
- rtfm: Read the frigging manual.
- tanstaafl: There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
- ttfn: Ta-ta for now.
- ttyl: Talk to you later.
- Some abbreviations are used to convey your emotions often at
the end of sentences:
- <grin>: Grin.
- <bg>: Big grin.
- <vbg>: Very big grin.
Because online communications usually still involves boring
type, we often miss out on the subtle indications of emotion that humans use when speaking
to one another. Emoticons or `smileys' attempt to fill that huge gap by giving plain
sentences a bit of character.
- :) or :-) The original
smiley. If you turn your head sideways to the left you'll clearly see a pair of eyes above
a big grin -- with latter also include a nose! But you don't have to be happy all the
time:
- :-| Non-plussed.
- :-/ Disappointed.
- :-( Unhappy frown.
- ;-( Crying.
- ;-) Wink.
- :-P Poking tongue out (indicates cheekiness).
- :-* Blowing a kiss.
- %-) Confused or drunk.
- :-)) Big grin (or a double chin).
- :-D Really big smile.
- :-# Swearing or angry.
- :-@ Mad or screaming.
- :-0 Surprised.
- :-& Tongue-tied.
- :-x Not telling any secrets.
- 8-) User wears glasses.
- :{} User wears lipstick.
- {:-) User wears a wig.
- d:-) User wears a baseball cap.
- [:) User wears a walkman.
- 3:-8 User is a cow.
- 8:] User is a gorilla.
- B-) User is Batman.
As you can see, smileys are heaps of fun and with a little
imagination you can come up with all sorts of hilarious combinations.
By Samantha Amjadali |
