Internet symbols

Common abbreviations Emoticons (or those funny-looking symbols)

Stymied by the acronymns and symbols used by experience Net heads? Wonder no more.

Common abbreviations

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.

Emoticons and smileys

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

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