Message and Chat Speak Primer

Lorraine Healy requested explanation of the shorthand many folks have adopted to save keystrokes, and inject the expressions and 'body language' missing in on-line conversation and messages.

Here's the start of a list of commonly found abbreviations, netiquette, and other on-line arcana. At some point I'll alphabetize and organize.

I've come from the CompuServe dialect of on-line speak (started with CIS in early '80's) so these may be somewhat colored by this 'regionalization'. Other dialects come from AOL, Prodigy, Internet Newsgroups, etc. Feel free to list your own favorites and I'll incorporate. (There's a Master's Sociology thesis in here for someone...)

---- Abbreviations ----
afaik: As Far As I Know
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions (technically this is an acronym - computer people love acronyms)
fwiw: For What Its Worth
iac: In Any Case
imo: In My Opinion
imho: In My Humble Opinion
ianal: I am not a lawyer
lmk: Let Me Know
LOL: Laughing Out Loud
Rotfl: Rolling On The Floor, Laughing (can be abbreviated as ROFL)
Rotflmao: Rolling On The Floor Laughing My A** Off
tdnbw: This Does Not Bode Well
tia: Thanks In Advance
wrt: With Regard To
ymmv: Your Mileage May Vary - ie., 'your experience may be different than mine'

----Expressions----
Expressions are usually found in messages but I tend to use these in chat conversations as well. To distiquish them from words, expressions are often placed in brackets. Usually these have angle brackets, but those don't work well here, so I'll use square brackets. Expressions are found more on CompuServe than AOL.

[g] = grin, grining
[s] = smile, smiling
[vbg] = very big grin
[vbseg] = a particular type of very big grin - you figure this one out. ;->
[g,d&r] = grinning, ducking & running (part expression part abbreviaton, this is used when making a smart remark about someone but is said in a friendly, jesting way.)

----Smilies----
Smilies represent a facial expression created with characters. (lean your head to the left to see the face) There are a ton of these and new ones are made up all the time. Somewhere I have a list of 100 or so which I'll try to dig out.

:-) standard with nose
standard w/o nose (colon + right paren)
:*) clown nose
:^) pointy nose
8-) with glasses
8*) clown nose w/ glasses
many variants - you get the idea

;-) Raised eyebrow or winking
;-> Winking smarty, sardonic, sarcastic
:-p sticking tongue out
:-( Frowning
unhappiness (colon + left paren)
%-) screwy, confused
:-| serious or said with a straight face
:-O yikes, surprised
#:-) crewcut
(8-) bald with glasses
:-)> beard
:-{) moustache
:-Q cigarette

O:-)> St. John Chidester, our host (halo w/ beard - JC entered sainthood on AOL)

See the Beaver Smiley!

----Signatures----
Many folks adopt a stylized signature for signing their messages. John often signs his with his 'St. John' smiley (above). You've probably seen mine as well. Signatures can be any set of marks with or without your name. The trick to being recognized by your signature is to use it consistently and for it to be different from other signatures. When choosing a signature, choose well, you'll want to live with it for a long time.

Examples:
-=Mike=-
BoB
JoYcE

----Netiquette----
Netiquette is simply the "do's and don'ts" of accepted on-line behaviour, or a description of the way people can act or express themselves on-line.

SHOUTING: The first thing to know is don't use all capital letters, unless you mean to shout. SHOUTING IS TACKY AND ITS VERY HARD TO READ AN ENTIRE MESSAGE POSTED IN ALL CAPS. So please don't do it unless you really really mean it.

Emphasis: you can inflect emphasis (similar to underlining) by surrounding a word or words with astericks. This is a *really* neat forum!

Flaming: if you make nasty or perjorative remarks attacking another person or business, or thing, or whatever, this is known as flaming. Flaming is generally frowned upon and if you do it regularly you'll be known as a flamer. A thread which turns nasty or has lots of name calling is known as a 'flame war'. If you must criticize, criticize a person's ideas or statements, but not the person themself.

That's all for now. Feel free to append to this message and suggest your own.

Rgds,
__
/im

Posted By: Webmaster

Re: Message and Chat Speak Primer - 05/23/98 06:18 AM

Actually,I make my 'smiley signature' using the zero key rather than the letter O. Gives my halo a better perspective. ROTFL.

0:>)

Although I have a moustache and full beard, I think it makes the whole thing too long to be fun: 0(:=)> (halo, balding, beard & moustache). And since 'smileys are long and narrow, there's no way to show how overweight you are.

I like Katherine Waterson's unique 'signature' KAT =(^+^)= (That's not quite right, but you get the idea).

The 'sainthood' was the result of a flame posting by someone on AOL who commented that "other people come to John's defense like he was a saint or something."

[This message has been edited.]