Emoticons and Abbreviations (Smileys)

      General Smileys

      Internet Abbreviations, Terms, and Acronyms

      Lyme & Tickborne Diseases Glossary 

:)   or   :-)

Smile

O:)  or  O:-)

Smiling angel

:D  or   :-D

Big, toothy smile

}:>    or    }:->

Devilish smile

:X    or    :-X

Lips are sealed

;)    or    ;-)

Wink

:(    or    :-(

Frown

:C    or    :-C

Big frown / Grumpy

:'(    or    :'-(

Crying

:-/

Sarcasm

:>    or    :->

Big grin

:p    or    :-p

Sticking out tongue

:*    or    :-*

Kiss

:o    or    :-o

Surprise; outcry

:O    or    :-O

Scream

:V    or    :-V

Talking; yakking

8)    or    8-)

Smiley with glasses; author wears glasses

|:o

Ooooohhh noooooo!

@;^[)

Elvis

*^(:')

Frosty the Snowman

\8-]

F.D.R.

7:-)

Ronald Regan

/:-)

Gumby

@@@@@@:)

Marge Simpson

=):-)=

Abe Lincoln

[8-]

Frankenstein

===:-D

Don King

%^>( 

Picasso cube-i-con

+-(:-)

The Pope

:-)X

Senator Paul Simon

AAMOF

as a matter of fact

ADN

any day now

AFAIA

as far as I'm aware

AFAIC

as far as I'm concerned

AFAIK

as far as I know

AFK

away from keyboard

ASAP

as soon as possible

ATSL

along the same line

AS

another subject

BAK

back at keyboard

BBD

basically brain dead

BBL

be back later

BCNU

be seeing you

BFN

bye for now

BRB

be right back (when momentarily leaving a chat )

BTT

back to topic (on email lists, message boards) back to top (to keep subject from ageing off a message board, a use rather frowned upon)

BTW

by the way

CU

see you (as in "CU 2morrow!")

CUL

see you later (or CUL8R)

DEB

don't even bother

DGT

don't go there

DH

dear heart (or husband)

DIIK

damned if I know

EM(F)BI

excuse me (for) butting in

FUBAR

fouled up beyond all recognition

FWIW

for what it's worth

FYATHYRIO

having to do with a self-directed, physically impossible action, and a horse

GD&R, <gdr>

grinning, ducking and running

GIWIST

gee, I wish I'd said that

GMTA

great minds think alike

HTH

hope this helps!

IC

I see

IIRC

if I recall correctly

ITSFWI

if the shoe fits, wear it

IMO

in my opinion

IMCO

in my considered opinion

IMHO

in my humble opinion

IOW

in other words

IRL

in real life (as opposed to your online life!)

KHYF

know how you feel

L8r

later

LAB&TYD

life's a bitch & then you die

LTNT

long time, no type

LOL

laughing out loud

NBD

no big deal

NOYL

not on your life

NP, np

no problem

NTYMI

now that you mention it

OIC

oh, I see!

OOTQ

out of the question

OT

off topic

OTOH

on the other hand

OTTOMH

off the top of my head

PITA

pain in the nether regions

POV

point of view

RABNC

read and acknowledged, but no comment

RSN

real soon now

RO(T)FL

rolling on (the) floor, laughing

ROFLMAO

rolling on floor, laughing my --- off

ROTFLOLSTC

rolling on the floor, laughing out loud - scared the cat!

RTFM

read the flippin' manual

SEP

someone else's problem

SNAFU

situation normal, all fouled up

SO

significant other

SOW

speaking of which

TANJ

there ain't no justice

TANSTASQ

there ain't no such thing as a stupid question

TCGOFE

this could go on for ever!

TEOTWAWKI

the end of the world as we know it

TFTHAOT

thanks for the help ahead of time

TIA

thanks in advance

TOBAL

there oughta be a law

TOBG

this oughta be good

TPTB

the powers that be

TTBOMK

to the best of my knowledge

TTFN

ta-ta for now!

TTUL

talk to you later

TYVM

thank you very much

WB

welcome back!

WRT

with regards to

WYSIWYG

what you see is what you get

WTG

way to go!

YGLT

you're gonna love this

YMMV

your mileage may vary (= your experience may differ)

AIM

AOL Instant Messenger. Instant messaging for those who don't have an AOL account, this instant messenger allows you to use the same program to talk with other AIM users and your friends on AOL.

Bandwidth

While the Internet - newsgroups, web browsing and email - seem free and (usually) magically fast to us, in fact it takes quite a bit to move every bit of code from one computer to another. The busier or more crowded with code the systems are, the slower the transmission speed. The slower the speed, the longer it takes to get information, and the Information Superhighway becomes like trying to drive on a dusty, dirt road pitted with potholes and littered with broken glass at midnight. S l o w. Since many people have to pay for every minute that they are online, or have very limited online time every month, it can get very expensive waiting for files and mail to be retrieved. Doing things that increases the amount of code without providing any more informaiton (like superhuge graphics files, copying the last five letters or posts -in full- in your email, using lots of cute animated and static graphic doodads at your site) quite literally, for most people, is a waste of bandwidth.

Email

Electronic mail: mail sent over the internet or within a service provider to other members of that provider.

Email Discussion List (EDL)

Discussion group based on a particular subject (e.g. IguanaMail, POGONA). Unlike newsgroups, one must actively subscribe to an email list to join. For further information, please see the Email Discussion Lists article.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions: a document, usually stored online at a website, that answers frequently asked questions about a particular subject. There are FAQs on animal care, as well as FAQs for newsgroups, email lists, etc. When you join an email list, the Welcome letter you get is a sort of FAQ.

ICQ

"I Seek You" ICQ: a program you can use to send instant messages or chat with others who also have ICQ accounts.

IRC

Internet Relay Chat: software to access the various internet chat rooms

ISP

Internet Service Provider: a company the provides, generally for a monthly fee, email accounts and access to the World Wide Web and newsgroups. Companies like AOL and Compuserve are commercial service providers.

Newbie

Newcomer: new to the Internet; new to the subject (e.g., a new iguana owner). Newbies are easily recognized in EDLs and newsgroups because they post the most basic of questions, showing that they haven't taken the time to do some background research on their own. Questions like, "I just got a dog. How do I take care of it?" is a good example, as are questions like, "Tell me everything there is to know about -------!" While many people are patient with newbies, remembering what it was like when they were new, many are not. You can put some mileage on your newbie outfit by doing some research first, before posting such questions. Every Welcome letter to an EDL and newsgroup FAQ has links to websites where you will find nformation to answer your initial questions, and often links to more advanced information, too. That way, you can post specific questions that will, er, net you more helpful, productive responses. For more information, see The Art of Getting Help, part of my Researching Herp Information article.

Newsgroup
Usegroup

The original Internet forums where people can post questions, answers and comments on a wide variety of subject. There are over 40,000 groups, sorted by subject (e.g., the group called rec.pets.herp is in Recreation, subcategory Pets, subcategory Herps). There are rules of conducts and FAQs for most groups. You can use your newsgroup software (often included with your email software or your web browser software) to get a full list of groups, or you can look for them through a search engine's listing of groups, such as Yahoo's.

Signal:Noise

Signal-to-Noise Ratio: :"Signal" means information. "Noise" is just chatter than eats up bandwidth, can be very annoying if it goes on too long, and literally costs people money if they have to pay to retrieve email, newsgroups and archived digests that contain more noise than signal. If you really need to show support for someone's statement or position and want to post an "attagirl!" or "Yeah! I agree completely!" type post, don't. Instead of posting it where thousands of people are going to be annoyed at you for wasting their time, email it privately to the individual.

Troll

A person who posts to a list or newsgroup with the sole intention of starting an argument or inflaming the group. Most email lists will terminate a person who trolls more than once.

URL

Universal Resource Locator: the unique address for each webpage (e.g., www.latimes.com is the URL for the Los Angeles Times web site).

WWW

World Wide Web: an inclusive term sometimes used to refer to websites in general, or more broadly used to encompass websites, email and newsgroups, and other forms of instant electronic communications over the Internet using personal computers.

X-posting

Cross-posting to more than one email list or newsgroup. this is generally frowned upon as the responses are also x-posted to all groups and generally are wildly off-topic and start ticking a whole lot of people off.