Common Abbreviations and Emoticons Used in Internet Chat

One of the most confusing aspects for new online chatters is the baffling assortment of coded symbols and letters that appear in chat room messages. For some people it can feel as though they have entered a world that speaks a whole new language.

However, once you get the hang of the acronyms, abbreviations and emoticons, they can be a great way to clarify the meaning of ambiguous text and to speed up your writing. In this section, we've put together a glossary of the most commonly used symbols and terminology, to help you to crack the Internet chat code.