Warning: Exposure to computer screens for long periods can make users act strangely, like making strange little symbols with keyboard characters.
Surfers of the Internet know them as “emoticons” or “smileys,” a computer-speak of symbols expressing gestures and emotions.
“They’re cute little pictures,” says David Sanderson, 30, a computer scientist from Wisconsin who compiled a book on smileys. “The actual reason why I started collecting them is a reason that only a computer geek would understand. I wanted to use them as my prompts.”
When his book “Smileys” (O’Reilly & Associates, $5.95) came out in 1993, about 600 faces and 900 definitions existed. Today, there are more than 2,000 emoticons, with the number growing every week, Sanderson says.
It’s not exactly rocket science. Just turn your head sideways to the left and read this:
:-3/8
No, that’s not some exotic programming code but the smiley for the tall-haired Kramer on TV’s “Seinfeld.”
😮 3/8 is the symbol for Bill Clinton.
Are you livid? Type -:-o
Want to kiss kiss on the ‘Net? Enter 😡
Smileys (the word “emoticon” is considered stuffy by many) have also made it onto a line of ‘Netwear T-shirts, designed by Mark Landry, a 30-year-old New Jersey graphic artist who calls the symbols a sort of “virtual body language.”
“In a medium where sight and sound are undeveloped, emoticons allow Internet users to express themselves by providing a substitute for physical gestures,” Landry says. “They supply the human element that is missing on the ‘Net.”
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Hence: :-r (I’m sticking my tongue out.)
If you want to learn more, point your Web browser to http:www.emoticon.com/smiley.html for a directory.
A glossary of smileys
Hug and kiss
😮 Wow!
:-C Just totally unbelieving
:-B Drooling
:-, Smirk
:-w Speak with forked tongue
🙂 Smiling
:-r Sticking tongue out
:- Oops!
‘-) Wink
:-T Keeping a straight face
😉 Sardonic incredulity
%-I Drunk with laughter
:-” Pursing lips
😯 “Omigod!!”
:-, “Hmmmm.”
: 7/8( “Someone just busted my nose.”
B-D “Serves you right, dummy!!”
(:-( “I have a toupee and it’s windy.”
‘:-) “I accidentally shaved off an eyebrow.”