LANGUAGE

LANGUAGE

	Emoticons Emoticons Emoticons Emoticons	Emoticons (smileys) are essentially pictures of facial expressions made out of punctuation marks. The Hacker's Dictionary attributes the first smiley use to Carnegie Mellon computer scientist Scott Fahlman in 1980. Emoticons are used to alert readers the irony, humor, or other intention of a remark.They are considered online culture's foremost contribution to either the evolution of language or the death of literacy, depending on one's point of view. :-) is the original smiley face,added with countless variations used to express writers' emotion: (Source: Wired Style, Alt.culture)
		;-)	a wink
		:-)	a smile
		:-(	sad
		:-0	shock
		:/	a touch of sarcasm
		>:D	demonic laugh
		%}	eyes crossed and smirking
		>:P	sticking tongue out at someone
		<:/&	stomach in knot
	Online shorthand Online shorthand Online shorthand	Netizens and online writers save time and reduce the risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome by employing tortured acronyms like IMHO instead of "in my humble opinion," which serves the useful purpose of alienating "newbies" (made plain by the admonition RTFM-read the fucking manual). (Source: Wired Style, Alt.culture)
		BTW	by the way
		FYFS	fuck you for sharing
		IMO	in my opinion
		IHMO	in my humble opinion
		IMNSHO	in my not so humble opinion
		IOW	in other words
		IRL	in real life
		LAT	lovely and talented
		LOL	laughing out loud
		OOC	out of character, used especially in MUDs
		OTOH	on the other hand (shorthand of the online diplomat)
		RL	real life
		ROTFL	rolling on the floor laughing
		ROTF	rolling on the floor
		RTFM	read the fucking manual, more common than the tamer RTM (read the manual)
		S!MT!!OE!!!	sets! my teeth!! On edge!!! Punctuation critical to express the sentiment of the sender who would have used SMTOE (sets my teeth on edge) if feeling a little bit more in control.
		TMOT	trust me on this
		TPTB	the powers that be
		TTYTT	to tell you the truth
		WADR	with all due respect
		WRT	with respect to
		WTFIGO	what the fuck is going on?
		YOYOW	you own your own words (the ur-online shorthand)

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Last modified: 4/11/98© 1998 tassanee