BBS Pop Culture

The Acronyms that IM proponents use today had their genesis in the world of Bulletin Board Systems (BBS).  I thought the readers might gain a few smiles as they look at how crude things were in the beginning of IM.  Also included are the most popular emoticons in 1983.  Enjoy!

ADN                      Any day now
AFAIK                   As Far As I Know
AWGTHTGTTA? Are We Going To Have To Go Through This Again?
BBS                      Bulletin Board System
BTW                     By The Way
CU                        See You
CUL                     See You Later
DIIK                      Damned if I know
FITB                     Fill In The Blank....
FWIW                  For What It's Worth
FYI                       For Your Information
GD&R                 Grinning, ducking & running (usually left at the end of a digging message)
GROK                 As in "I GROK"  means thorough understanding.  From R.A. Heinlin)
GIWIST               Gee I Wish I'd Said That
IC                         I See
IMHO                   In My Humble Opinion
IMNSHO             In My Not So Humble Opinion
IOW                     In Other Words
JSNM                 Just Stark Naked Magic
L8R                     Later
LAB&TYD          Life's A Bitch & Then You Die.
LOL                     Laughing Out Loud
NBD           No Big Deal
OIC                     Oh, I See
OTOH                On The Other Hand
PFM                   Pure ******* Magic
PITA                   Pain In The Arse
POV                   Point Of View
ROTFL               Rolling On The Floor Laughing
RSN                   Real Soon Now
RTFM                 Read The ******* Manual
SYSOP              System Operator
TANJ                  There Ain't No Justice
TANSTAAFL    There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
TPTB                 The Powers That Be
TTBOMK           To The Best Of My Knowledge
TTFN                 Ta Ta For Now
TTUL                 Talk To You Later
WTF                  What the ****
WYSIWYG        Whats you see is whats you'se gets.
   
:-)            Smiling, happy face; don't take me too seriously
B-)          Above, but poster wears glasses or sunglasses (or is BatMan)
8-)          Same as previous; also used to denote wide-eyed look
#:-)    :-) done by someone with sort of matted hair
:-(           Sad or angry face
@=        Flame about nuclear war, power or weapons follows (mushroom cloud)
;-)          Winking happy face (something said tongue-in-cheek)
:-P         Tongue stuck out
:-b          Same as previous
:-D         Wider happy face (or mouth open too much)
:-o          "Oh, nooooooo!" (a la Mr. Bill)
#:-o        Same as previous
(:-)          Messages dealing with bicycle helmets
<:-)         Dumb questions
oo         "Somebody's head-lights are on" messages
O>-<|=   Messages of interest to women
;-)           Wink (take this message with a grain of salt)
|-(           Late night messages
:^)          Messages teasing people about their noses
:-{#}       Messages teasing people about their braces
(:-#        Message concerning something that shouldn't have been said...
(:-$        Message indicating person is ill...
(:-&        Message indicating person is angry...
(:-*         Kiss...
(:-(         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 people with a fuzzy mustache
%-)      Message about people with broken glasses
+<:-|     Message from a monk/nun...
{0-)      Message from cyclops...
(:-D     Message concerning another blabber mouth...
(:-|K-   Formal message.
B-)      Message from Batman !!!
...---...  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...
(8-)    Message from a four-eye...
(:>-<  Message from a thief: hands up!
<I==I)  A message on four wheels
:^{      User wears a mustache.
{         User is Alfred Hitchcock.
@>--->----  A rose.
(.)(.)   Ms. Dos
()x() Ms. Dos with "Cross Your Heart" Bra