Emoticon

These are the little text-based faces and objects you often see in e-mail and online chat. They help give the reader a sense of the writer's feelings and what they mean in their writing. For example, the classic =) shows that the writer is happy about something or that he is has taken a message in good humor. The =P is used to show frustration, a feeling of irony, or in can be used to say "Whatever..." A @-->-->--- is supposed to be a long-stemmed rose, which you can use to show affection -- pretty lame if you ask me. For a list of more emoticons as well as some Internet acronyms, check out this page.