[This is the third in a series about e-mail. Read earlier posts under the category e-mail.]

Emoticons, short for “emotion icons,” and also known as smileys, are punctuation combinations that can help soften an informal message. Here are some frequently used emoticons and their definitions. Use them in moderation; too many can make your messages look too doodled-on.

: ) happy

: ( unhappy

; ) wink, jest

: D laughing

: O shocked

: p giving the raspberries, poking out tongue

>: ( mad

: x lips sealed

<:-| dunce

:-\ unsure

You may also enjoy the following related articles:

1. MS Quick Parts: Tech Support Secret Revealed
2. E-mail Image Counts
3. Helpful Way To Clean Up HTML E-mails
4. E-mail Policy for the CC Field
5. E-mail Etiquette: Turn off Type-Ahead

Tags: email, emoticon, smiley

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