
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 2, 1992                   TAG: 9202290215
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

EMOTICONS, GRINS ADD PERSONAL TOUCH

Electronic mail and bulletin board users may still need their own etiquette, but they already use lingo and electronic hieroglyphics. Here's a sampling:

One of the most common ways to extract the sting from a caustic remark is typing the letter "g" - short for "grin" - between angled brackets.

A really outrageous remark meant in jest may include the self-effacing "grin, duck and run" or "grin, duck and run very, very fast" - typed as "gd&r," or "gd&rvvf" in brackets.

For correspondents wishing to express their feelings with more than words, there are scores of "emoticons." These are groups of punctuation marks that, viewed sideways, turn into smiling faces, frowns and other expressions:\ :) is a smile.

\ :( is a frown.

\ ;) is a smile and a wink.

Noses can be added with dashes or equals signs.

The numeral 8 or capital B make eyeglasses.

Os or zeros show an open mouth.

A puckered mouth is indicated by a colon for eyes followed by an asterisk.

And if you say something nice, you may get a rose made from the "at" sign followed by a hyphenated stem and a greater-than sign for leaves.

by CNB