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Faizan
The advent of quick email conventionallly electronic communication over computers has resulted in a rich online culture. The heavily textual nature of online communication has led to the evolution of a unique form of simplified character-based language. You can use the symbols to enhance your electronic communications. Some of these symbols are used almost universally among email users in some form or another.
Emoticons
Emoticons are a series of characters that taken together create a text-based image. This image is construed by the viewer to mean something. For example, to convey happiness, you can use the ":)" emoticon. To convey sadness, you can use ":(." There are variations in how the emoticons are actually typed. For instance, some people add a nose, like so: ":-)." Emoticons are a quick and easy way for you to express a particular emotion.
Using Emoticons in Email Client
Most email clients have a list of pre-made emoticons that you can select from. These emoticons are generally in a drop-down list somewhere above the box that you type the message in. For instance, in Gmail, you can find them by clicking the yellow "Insert Emoticon" icon. In Yahoo! Mail, the emoticon list can be found under a tab named "Emoticons." The advantage of these pre-made emoticons is that they are usually professionally made images, and are sometimes animated.
Slang in Email
Other than emoticons, symbols in email are used as slang. You can use these slang symbols to shorten the amount of time you have to spend typing something. Some of the symbols are acronyms and some replace entire words. For instance, the number 1 is often used in place of the word "one" in words containing this word. You can use numbers and letters to spell words phonetically. "Wonder" becomes "1dr" and so forth. Popular acronyms include "LOL," "AAK," "B4" and "BAK." These mean, respectively: "laugh out loud," "alive and kicking," before" and "back at keyboard."
Examples
Other popular emoticons that you can use include "xoxo," which means "hugs and kisses," "\~/," which signifies a drink, and ":-0" which indicates surprise. You can use ":-x" to indicate that you are not talking about a given subject and ">:-||" to indicate anger. Other popular slang symbols include "YR," meaning "yeah right," "YMMV," which means "your mileage may vary," and "WTG" which means "way to go." Other popular symbols used in email include the "@" symbol, which is usually used to mean "at," the "#" symbol used as "number" and the "&" used as the word "and."
Emoticons
Emoticons are a series of characters that taken together create a text-based image. This image is construed by the viewer to mean something. For example, to convey happiness, you can use the ":)" emoticon. To convey sadness, you can use ":(." There are variations in how the emoticons are actually typed. For instance, some people add a nose, like so: ":-)." Emoticons are a quick and easy way for you to express a particular emotion.
Using Emoticons in Email Client
Most email clients have a list of pre-made emoticons that you can select from. These emoticons are generally in a drop-down list somewhere above the box that you type the message in. For instance, in Gmail, you can find them by clicking the yellow "Insert Emoticon" icon. In Yahoo! Mail, the emoticon list can be found under a tab named "Emoticons." The advantage of these pre-made emoticons is that they are usually professionally made images, and are sometimes animated.
Slang in Email
Other than emoticons, symbols in email are used as slang. You can use these slang symbols to shorten the amount of time you have to spend typing something. Some of the symbols are acronyms and some replace entire words. For instance, the number 1 is often used in place of the word "one" in words containing this word. You can use numbers and letters to spell words phonetically. "Wonder" becomes "1dr" and so forth. Popular acronyms include "LOL," "AAK," "B4" and "BAK." These mean, respectively: "laugh out loud," "alive and kicking," before" and "back at keyboard."
Examples
Other popular emoticons that you can use include "xoxo," which means "hugs and kisses," "\~/," which signifies a drink, and ":-0" which indicates surprise. You can use ":-x" to indicate that you are not talking about a given subject and ">:-||" to indicate anger. Other popular slang symbols include "YR," meaning "yeah right," "YMMV," which means "your mileage may vary," and "WTG" which means "way to go." Other popular symbols used in email include the "@" symbol, which is usually used to mean "at," the "#" symbol used as "number" and the "&" used as the word "and."
