"smileys" are usually composed of a few text characters, and used as a kind of emotional shorthand to add meaning to a message. For example, an emoticon may be used at the end of a comment to indicate that the comment was not intended to be taken seriously ;-) Most emoticons are designed to be interpreted with the viewer's head tilted over to the left.

:-)  or  :)	happy, smiley
:-D	laughing
8-)	wearing glasses (& happy)
;-)  or  ;)	"just kidding"
:-0	surprised/shocked
:-/	undecided/sceptical
:->	sarcastic
:-(  or  :(	sad/angry
:-P	Sticking out tongue

See also: mc² emoticons


ACRONYMS

Internet chat has developed its own set of acronyms. New ones are being added daily as people all around the world find ways to express themselves in a new way. Here are just a few of the popular ones:

2	to, too
4	for
AFK	away from keyboard
A/S/L	age/sex/location?
ATM	at the moment
BBL	be back later
BBS	be back soon
BOS	bums on seats
BRB	be right back
BTW	by the way
CU	see you
FWIW	for what it's worth
FYI	for your information
<G>	grin
GIGO	garbage in = garbage out
IMHO	in my humble opinion
IRL	In Real Life
KISS	keep it simple, stupid
L8R	later
LOL	laughing out loud
NTK	need to know
OTT	over the top
ROFL	roll on (the) floor laughing
RTFM	read the %$!&*# manual
RU	are you
SNAFU	situation normal - all *#$%@ up!
TIA	thanks in advance
TTYL	talk to you later
TTFN	ta-ta for now
WTG	way to go
WYSIWYG	what you see is what you get

 more chat/TXT abbreviations


COMMON CHAT EXPRESSIONS

If you are new to IRC you may find yourself bewildered and overwhelmed by symbols, acronyms and expressions not commonly used in everyday English. A lot of the expressions used are based around youth and university student culture. Many of them have their source in the hippie culture of 1960s as well as from the computer hacker community; plus local slang, acronyms and abbreviations. E.g. "hot", "cool", "chill", "sick", "onya", "Whassup?" - More Sample Expressions

See also:

• Help with Chat
• Netiquette of Chat
• How to organise a successful mc2 chat session
• Glossary of Internet Terms

• Bigpond.com has a Chat Help section that explains many Smileys, Acronyms and Expressions
• See also NetLingo for a comprehensive list of smileys.
• You can download emoticons [emotional icons - small smiley images] from Smiley-Central
  or look at Yahoo emoticons

• Text Messaging Abbreviations
  With the popularity and rise in use of instant messaging, Internet chat rooms and text messaging came the emergence of a new language tailored to the immediacy and compactness of these new communication media. If you have ever been in a chat room or received an instant message or text message from someone that seemed to be in its own foreign language, this list will help you decipher the lingo.