Emoticons
Another really common feature of chat is emoticons. Emoticons, or 'smileys', help chatters express how they're feeling.
They're normal punctuation marks arranged to make faces. You just tilt your head to the left in order to see them!
| Emoticon |
What it means |
| :-) |
happy face (colon, dash, close bracket) |
| :-( |
sad face (colon, dash, open bracket) |
| ;-) |
winking face. Ideal to make it clear that what you've just typed is only a joke (semicolon, dash, close bracket) |
| :-o |
shocked face (colon, dash, o) |
| :-p |
tongue poking out (colon, dash, p) (generally used in cheeky good humour) |
| 
