Posted by shadowfax on December 29, 1999 at 02:56:05:
In Reply to: Re: IMHO and :>) posted by Griff on December 28, 1999 at 21:16:19:
actually, the "smileys" (actually, their true name is emoticons. . . calling them smileys started with net.weenies who's first online experience was the internet) were developed by the original BBS community (FYI (for your information) this is not a BBS, it's a forum. A BBS is a dialup messaging system which is not connected to the internet.) The emoticon was developed shortly after the BBS caught on because people were getting into fights due to misconstrued meanings. . . . Small jokes were mistaken as great insults, mainly because cues such as vocal tone and facial expression were lost in a text only environment. The emoticon solved that by allowing you to send a facial expression.
Abbreviations such as IMHO, ROTFLOL (rolling on the floor laughing out loud), and BTW (by the way) are not meant to be funny - - they're just meant to save time
some other smileys:
}:-< Klingon
I<:-) kid with a propellor beanie
+<|:-) Pope
----------+<|:-) Pope on a rope
B-) 50's woman
:P annoyed/exasperated
:P''' Raspberry
-[8] Marvin the Martian (from the daffy duck cartoons)
and of course, (AT)>-'-,------ Rose