Internet Acronyms, Smileys and Emoticons

A selection of smileys that cycles between the basic smiley :-) winkeye ;-) bigeyes 8-) and a sad face :-(

Ever been confused by seemingly random arrangements of letters in the midst of what otherwise seem very conherent posts?

Here you will find those TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) decoded, and those little colon and bracket combinations explained.

Three Letter Acronyms

The first little discrepancy is, of course, that the acronym TLA is completely untrue. Many have four or more letters in them, but then since when did the Internet ever adhere to its own rules?

AFAIK - As Far As I Know
AFK - Away From Keyboard
ATM - At The Moment
BBL - Be Back Later
BRB - Be Right Back
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
FTP - File Transfer Protocol
FYI - For Your Information
HTH - Happy To Help
HTML - Hypertext Markup Language
HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol
ICQ - (I seek you) - instant messaging and communication program
IIRC - If I Recall Correctly
IRC - Internet Relay Chat - A method of chatting in real time
ISTR - I Seem To Remember
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
LOL - Laughs Out Loud
OTOH - On The Other Hand
ROFL - Rolls On Floor Laughing
RTFM - Read The Flippin' Manual!
TLA - Three Letter Acronymn
TMI - Too Much Information!
TTFN - Ta Ta For Now
WWW - World Wide Web

Smileys and Emoticons

An entirely text based medium isn't exactly ideal for expressing emotions, so for this reason, Emoticons or Smileys were created. They are used to express different moods, the idea being that if you turn them 90° to the right, you get a little face!

Here are some that you might encounter.