How many times have you seen on your cell phone, Blackberry, or around the interwebs on forums, blogs, and Twitters these weirdo text emoticons (as they're officially called). You wanna be hip and be in the know, and yet you scratch your head and think "WTF! Might as well be Swahili." This is me almost everyday even as someone who lives on the web.
Stuff like this:
\&&&/ is Princess
\%%%/ is Queen
8-) is smiling wearing sunglasses
:-S is "I'm confused"
I've been using :-D for laughing out loud because apparently it is a more mature version of LOL! or lol! which is okay for kiddos not adults over 30. See, so much to learn from the thumb generation.
Need translation, here's some quick links to enlighten you:
Sharpened Glossary - Simple and basic
Wikipedia - Their list includes Basic, Asian, and Complex
Net Lingo - This one has the basics plus fun things like @:-) for "I'm a smiley with wavy hair" and +<:-) "I'm the Pope"