though I do have my problems with emoticons- in my IM client they are automatically transformed into small icons - or in the case of LOL ( all caps!) into a short laughter so sometimes I don't know what the all chars incarnation of an emoticon looks like.

"You must remember this, a ;-* is just a ;-* "

Come to think of it, the shorthand for kiss being an asterisk is possibly older than IM and tha intarweb and all that I was signing notes to my girlfriend 30 years ago with stars.