Text Message Symbols

Believe it or not, for most of us, our messages remain incomplete without the use of text message symbols. Many times, the use of these emoticons is even unnecessary, but we have become so used to them that we can't do without them. Texting abbreviations and symbols undoubtedly, help us in reducing the number of characters. A simple smiley can express whether you are happy or sad or may be even sarcastic about something. Texting abbreviations, help you save space in messages. Besides, who would type "Hope to see you soon", in a text message from your cell phone, when you can simply type HTSUS and get the message conveyed.

History of Text Message Symbols
Just for the fun part of it, let me tell you the history of text message symbols. Unbelievably, the use of the emoticons can be traced back to the year 1857. In April 1857, National Telegraphic Review and Operators Guide, documented for the first time the use of the number 73 in Morse Code to represent "love and kisses". In 1912, Ambrose Bierce, the famous satirist and author of 'The Devil's Dictionary' proposed the use of the symbol '\__/! ' to represent a smiling mouth. In fact, teletype machine operators had been using emoticons even before 1973. Scott Elliot Fahlman, a computer engineer from the Carnegie Mellon university, is supposed to be the first person to have proposed the most popular text message symbols or smiley faces, :-) and :-( to be used as joke markers.

Text Messaging Symbols in Present Day
The present day text messaging symbols follow the process of graphical replacement. Most of the cell phones are enabled with the feature to replace the use of symbols like :) or :-) into the corresponding smiley face. The punctuation marks :) when used together in instant messengers, is automatically replaced to a smiley representing a smile. In most of the cases, it is a yellow round head, with two dots representing the two eyes and a curve representing the mouth. Even computer programs like Microsoft Word converts symbols that we type into their respective smileys. Now, without wasting much time, let us take a look at the different text message symbols meanings.

Text Message Symbols List
The most common combinations of punctuation marks and alphabets which are generally used to represent text message symbols, have been explained below with their meanings.

Text Message Symbol	Meaning
:)	smiling face without nose
:-)	smiling face with nose
:(	frowning face without nose
:-(	frowning face with nose
#:-)	smiling with a fur hat
&:-)	smiling with curls
*<|:o)>	Santa Clause
:-)...	drooling
:-7	smirk
:-D	grinning
:@	shouting
:`(	crying
:-()	shocked
:-(O)	Shouting
:-\	skeptical
:-|	Determined
:-~)	having a cold
:-<	Cheated
:-9	salivating
:-x	small kiss
:-X	big kiss
>8-D	evil crazed laughter

Text Message Abbreviation List
Some of the text message abbreviations which are used very often have been listed below along with their meanings.

Text Message Abbreviation	Meaning
2bctnd	to be continued
2g4u	too good for you
2l8	Too late
2WIMC	too whom it may concern
4e	Forever
4yeo	for your eyes only
A3	anytime, anywhere, anyplace
AAM	as a matter of fact
AB!	Ah Bless!
ADctd2uv	addicted to love
AFAIK	as far as I know
AFK	away from keyboard
AML	all my love
ASAP	as soon as possible
ASL	age, sex, location
ATW	at the weekend
B4N	bye for now
Cm	call me
CU	see you
CUL	see you later
DUR?	don't you remember?
EOD	end of discussion
EOL	end of lecture
F2F	face to face
F2T	free to talk
FC	fingers crossed
FYEO	for your eyes only
BTW	by the way
FYI	for your information
G9	genius
GG	good game
GMTA	great minds think alike
GR8	great
GTSY	great to see you
H&K	hugs and kisses
H8	hate
HAGN	have a good night
HAND	have a nice day
IC	I see
IDK	I don't know
IMO	in my opinion
J4F	just for fun
J4K	just for kisses
KC	keep cool
KIT	keep in touch
LOL	laughing out loud
M8	mate
MGB	may God bless
MYOB	mind your own business
NO1	no one
O4U	only for you
PCM	please call me
PPL	people
RMB	ring my bell
SOL	sooner or later
SRY	sorry
STATS	your sex and age
T+	think positive
T2ul	talk to you later
U4E	yours forever
URTO	you are the one
W4U	waiting for you
WAN2	want to
WRT	with respect to
WTG	way to go
WUF	where are you from
YBS	you will be sorry

Try out all these text message symbols and abbreviations in your messages or while using instant messaging services. But bear in mind, that all mobile phones may not compulsorily support these text message symbols.