wolfnose.org
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/ emoticons.htmlSomethings don't come across well in written form unless you start writing about yourself in the third person:
The gray muzzled wolf sits down on an aged tree stump and, after pausing to catch his breath, sip some water, and scratch behind his ear, continues to waffle on about Usenet...
That kind of thing may be all well and good if your about to sit down and read (or write) a 300 page novel, but typically a Usenet post requires some kind of shorthand. Two systems are common, emoticons (which are used all over Usenet), and gestures which came from the furry love of Mucks. I'll deal with gestures first, as they tend to be simpler.
Put simply gestures are a shorthand for slipping into the
third person and describing what you are doing. Typically
this is done by placing the third-person text between pairs
of '*' characters. This is analogous to a
pose on a Muck or a /me command on
IRC.
*David sneaks up behind you with a pendulous water balloon*
Sometimes these are reduced to just one or two words...
*bang!*
... and occasionally are written as an abbreviation between angle brackets ...
<GDR>
... which means "grins, ducks, and runs"!
Rather more traditional than gestures, smilies have been used all over the 'net to mark items that are humourous with varying degrees of success. These are emoticons - emotional icons used to show the feelings of the poster when they committed finger to key.
There are various dictionaries of smilies that have been going around the net for as long as I can remember. The ones here are adapted from a document that seemed closest to the yellowing roll of teletype printout I kept. There seems little chance of being able to credit the original author.
These are the basic smilies that you are likely to see, most often around humorous (allegedly) statements.
:-)
|
Your basic smiley. This smiley is used to inflect a sarcastic or joking statement since we can't hear voice inflection over e-mail. |
;-)
|
Winky smiley. User just made a flirtatious and/or sarcastic remark. More of a "don't hit me for what I just said" smiley. |
:-(
|
Frowning smiley. User did not like that last statement or is upset or depressed about something. |
:-I
|
Indifferent smiley. Better than a :-( but
not quite as good as a :-).
|
:->
|
User just made a really biting sarcastic remark. Worse
than a ;-).
|
>:->
|
User just made a really devilish remark. |
>;->
|
Winky and devil combined. A very lewd remark was just made. |
More smileys used to denote emotional state.
|-)
|
hee hee |
|-D
|
ho ho |
:-O
|
oops |
:-P
|
nyahhhh! |
Most of these are pretty rare. There is a certain humour here, but some are really pushing it.
(-:
|
User is left handed. |
:^)
|
User has a broken nose. |
:-/
|
User is skeptical. |
%-)
|
User has been staring at a green screen for 15 hours straight. |
:v)
|
User has a broken nose, but it's the other way. |
C=:-)
|
User is a chef. |
:*)
|
User is drunk. |
:_)
|
User's nose is sliding off of his face. |
@=
|
User is pro-nuclear war. |
[:]
|
User is a robot. |
:<)
|
User is from an Ivy League School. |
*<:-)
|
User is wearing a Santa Claus Hat. |
8-)
|
User is wearing sunglasses. |
:-&
|
User is tongue tied. |
:-o
|
Uh oh! |
|
|
|
|||
B:-)
|
Sunglasses on head. |
=:-)
|
User is a hosehead. |
(8-o
|
It's Mr. Bill! |
::-)
|
User wears normal glasses. |
-:-)
|
User is a punk rocker. |
*:o)
|
And Bozo the Clown! |
B-)
|
User wears horn-rimmed glasses. |
-:-(
|
Real punk rockers don't smile. |
3:]
|
Pet smiley. |
8:-)
|
User is a little girl. |
:=)
|
User has two noses. |
3:[
|
Mean Pet smiley. |
:-)-8
|
User is a Big girl. |
+-:-)
|
User is the Pope or holds some other religious office. |
d8=
|
Your pet beaver is wearing goggles and a hard hat. |
:-{)
|
User has a mustache. |
`:-)
|
User shaved one of his eyebrows off this morning. |
E-:-)
|
User is a Ham radio operator. |
:-{}
|
User wears lipstick. |
,:-)
|
Same thing...other side. |
:-9
|
User is licking his/her lips. |
{:-)
|
User wears a toupee. |
|-I
|
User is asleep. |
%-6
|
User is braindead. |
}:-(
|
Toupee in an updraft. |
|-O
|
User is yawning/snoring. |
[:-)
|
User is wearing a walkman. |
:-[
|
User is a vampire. |
:-Q
|
User is a smoker. |
(:I
|
User is an egghead. |
:-E
|
Bucktoothed vampire. |
:-?
|
User smokes a pipe. |
<:-I
|
User is a dunce. |
:-F
|
Bucktoothed vampire with one tooth missing. |
O-)
|
Megaton Man On Patrol! (or else, user is a scuba diver) |
K:P
|
User is a little kid with a propeller beenie. |
:-7
|
User just made a wry statement. |
O :-)
|
User is an angel (at heart, at least). |
@:-)
|
User is wearing a turban. |
:-*
|
User just ate something sour. |
:-`
|
User spitting out its chewing tobacco. |
:-0
|
No Yelling! (Quiet Lab) |
:-)~
|
User drools. |
:-S
|
User just made an incoherent statement. |
:-:
|
Mutant smiley; the invisible smiley. |
:-~)
|
User has a cold. |
:-D
|
User is laughing (at you!) |
.-)
|
User only has one eye. |
:'-(
|
User is crying. |
:-X
|
User's lips are sealed. |
,-)
|
Ditto...but he's winking. |
:'-)
|
User is so happy, s/he is crying. |
:-C
|
User is really bummed. |
X-(
|
User just died. |
:-@
|
User is screaming. |
<|-)
|
User is Chinese. |
8 :-)
|
User is a wizard. |
:-#
|
User wears braces. |
<|-(
|
User is Chinese and doesn't like these kind of jokes. |
-=* :-)
|
User is a TeX wizard. |
A lot of these can be typed without noses to make midget smileys. For some reason these have become the norm for furry smileys, often the regular type with noses are said to be "too human".
:)
|
Midget or Furry smiley |
:(
|
Sad. |
;)
|
Winking. |
:[
|
Real downer. |
:D
|
Laughter. |
:I
|
Hmmmm. |
:P
|
Nyah! |
:O
|
Yelling |
=)
|
Cartoon eyes |
:@
|
Screaming |
|I
|
Asleep |
^o
|
Snoring |
:C
|
Very sad. |
:,(
|
Crying |
[]
|
Hugs ... |
:*
|
... and kisses. |
:]
|
Gleep...a friendly midget smiley who will gladly be your friend. | ||
Combining the smileys you've seen so far in epic proportions...
C=}>;*{))
|
A drunk, devilish chef with a toupee in an updraft, a mustache, and a double chin. |
|
|
}:^#})
|
Updrafted bushy-mustached pointy nosed smiley with a double-chin. |
In some Usenet articles you might also find these smileys which form a certain "dialect" developed and used in this most creative environment.
~~:-(
|
net.flame |
O |-)
|
net.religion |
8 :-I
|
net.unix-wizards |
X-(
|
net.suicide |
E-:-I
|
net.ham-radio |
|