These acronyms are frequently used as savers of bytes and time in CIS Forum
messages.

CIS     =  Consumer Information Service (of CompuServe)
RTFM    =  Read the, uh, Friggin' Manual
PITA    =  Pain in the a**
BTW     =  By the way
TSR     =  Terminate and Stay Resident program
OTOH    =  On the other hand
OTTH    =  On the third hand
FWIW    =  For what it's worth
RSN     =  Real Soon Now
WYSIWYG =  What you see is what you get
PPN     =  Programmer Project Number. Ie, a CIS user's ID#.
OIC     =  Oh, I see!
IMHO    =  In my humble opinion [the speaker is never humble]
IMCO    =  In my considered opinion
g,d&r   =  grinning, ducking, and running
ROTFLMAO = Rolling On The Floor Laughung My Ass Off
BRB = Be Right Back
<VBG> = Very Big Grin
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

@* These "emoticons" [icons designating emotions] were originally
uploaded to the IBMCOM Forum, DL6, in the files E-ICON.ARC and ICON2.ARC, and
are posted here with the permission of the author, James Bach 76555,273.

EMOTICON.1

To help telecom-sters clarify just how humorous their postings are
intended to be, here is a collection of the many faces of humor,
emoticon-style.

emoticon: n. a figure created with the symbols on a keyboard that
          is read with the head tilted to the left. Used to convey
          the spirit in which a line of text was typed.


************************************************************************
*                                                                      *
* Tilt your head slightly to the left to read the following emoticons. *
*                                                                      *
************************************************************************


:-)         Humor
:-) )-:     Masking theatrical comments
:<)         For those with hairy lips
:<)=        For those with beards too
:/)         Not funny
'-)         Wink
P-)         Pirate
;-)         Sardonic incredulity
(@ @)       You're kidding!
:-"         Pursing lips
:-v         Just another face (speaking) profiled from the side
:-V         Shout
:-w         Speak with forked tongue
:-W         Shout with forked tongue
:-r         Bleahhh (sticking tongue out)
:-f
:-p
:-1         Smirks
:-,
<:-O        Eeek!
:-*         Oooops (covering mouth with hand)
:-T         keeping a straight face (tight-lipped)
:-D         said with a smile
:-P
:-y
:-o         More versions of shouting
:-O
:-{         Count Dracula
=|:-)=      Uncle Sam
7:)         Reagan
:-#         Censored
:~i         Smoking
:~j         (and smiling)
:/i         No smoking
:-I         Bored
:-x         Kiss kiss
:->         Alternate happy face
:-(         Unhappy
:-c         Real unhappy
:-C         Unbelieving (jaw dropped)
:-<         Forlorn
:-B         Drooling (or overbite)
:-|         Disgusted
:-?         Licking your lips
<:>==       A turkey emoticon
:-) :-) :-) Loud guffaw
:-J         Tongue-in-cheek comments
:*)         Clowning around
:-8         Talking out both sides of your mouth
(:-)        Msgs dealing with bicycle helmets
@=          Warning about nuclear war
<:-)        For dumb questions
o=          A burning candle for flames
-=          A doused candle to end a flame
OO          Headlights on msg
:_)         I used to be a boxer, but it really got my nose out of joint

**************************************************************************
EMOTICON.2

Awhile ago, I posted a set of emoticons, those little faces denoting
various forms of humor. After browsing an internal bboard, I found even more
emoticons - so here is Part II.....

B-)     Smiling and wearing glasses or sunglasses
         (or a message from Batman)
8-)     Same as previous; also used to denote wide-eyed look
#:-)    :-) done by someone with sort of matted hair
:-o     "Oh, nooooooo!" (a la Mr. Bill)
#:-o    Same as previous
|-(     Late night messages
:^)     Messages teasing people about their noses
:-{#}   Messages teasing people about their braces
(:-$    Message indicating person is ill...
(:-&    Message indicating person is angry...
(:-(    Message indicating person is VERY sad...
(:^(    Message concerning people with broken noses
(:<)    Message concerning blabber mouths
:-(=)   Message about people with big teeth
&:-)    Message from a person with curly hair
@:-)    Message from a person with wavy hair
?-(     Message about people with a black eye
*:*     Message about fuzzy things
*:**    Message about fuzzy things with fuzzy mustaches
%-)     Message about people with broken glasses
+<:-|   Message from a monk/nun...
{0-)    Message from cyclops...
(:-|K-  Formal message.
...---...   S.O.S.
@%&$%&  You know what that means...
||*(    Handshake offered
||*)    Handshake accepted
<&&>    Message concerning rubber chickens
>< ><   Message about/to someone wearing argyle socks
2B|^2B  Message about Shakespeare
(-_-)   Secret smile
<{:-)}  Message in a bottle...
<:-)<<| Message from a space rocket...
(:-...  Heart-breaking message...
<<<<(:-) Message from a hat sales-man...
(O--<   A fishy message...
(:>-<   Message from a thief: hands up!
<I==I)  A message on four wheels
:^{     For those with mustaches
{       Alfred Hitchcock
@>--->----  A rose.

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