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"Standard telegraphic and ham (amateur radio) abbreviations: 73 Best regards 88 Love and kisses / hugs/"

Can be found by googling "73 and 88," or more especially "73 and 88 ham radio" per answer above.

Didn't know there could be such confusion, instead of plain "Huh?" as in: o_O
 
Actually LOL Ell is also right '88' is a Neo-nazi code for Heil Hitler 'H' being the 8th letter in the alphabet and use thereof on chats in Germany will get you on the watch list. (I had a German friend who nearly died when I cheerily said '88' instead of 'bye' at the end of a chat.)

'88' in ham radio speak evolved from telegraph operators who had an official list of codes.

From that font of all knowledge: Wikipedia:

In Chinese culture

Number 88 symbolizes fortune and good luck in Chinese culture, since the word 8 sounds similar to the word Fā (发, which implies 发财, or wealth, in Mandarin or Cantonese). The number 8 is considered to be the luckiest number in Chinese culture, and prices in Chinese supermarkets often contain many 8s. The shape of the Chinese character for 8 (八) implies that a person will have a great, wide future as the character starts narrow and gets wider toward the bottom. The Chinese government has been auctioning auto license plates containing many 8s for tens of thousands of dollars. The 2008 Beijing Olympics opened on 8/8/08 at 8 p.m.[1] 88 is often used to mean "bye bye" in Chinese-language chats, text messages, SMSs and IMs. 88 is pronounced in Chinese Mandarin language as "ba ba" ("bā bā" to be precise), simulating the sound of the English language "bye bye".

In Amateur Radio

88 is used as shorthand for 'hugs and kisses' when signing a message in Amateur (ham) Radio. It is used in spoken word (radiotelephony) morse code (radiotelegraphy) and in various digital modes. It is considered rather more intimate than '73', which (roughly) means 'best regards', and therefore 73 is more often used. The two may be used together. Sometimes the 88 or 73 is pluralized by appending an s.[2] These number codes are at least a century old.

As a Neo-Nazi symbol

Neo-Nazis use the number 88 as a code to represent the slogan Heil Hitler.[3] The letter H is eighth in the alphabet, so 88 is meant to stand for HH. The number is sometimes used in combination with the number 14 (e.g. 1488 or 14/88). In this context, the number 14 stands for the "Fourteen Words", which is a white nationalist slogan created by convicted terrorist David Lane. Examples of usage include: the song "88 rock'n'roll band" by the neo-Nazi band Landser, and the names of the groups Column 88, Unit 88, White Legion 88 and Barselc88. Holocaust museum shooter James von Brunn often signed his writings as "JVB-88."
 
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aah lol ok then it is different. Mine is Chinese internet slang for 'bye bye' for which I've been given two explanations - '8' is 'ba' and thus phonectically similar to 'bye'. The other is that '8' is visually similar to the character 白 'bai' (white) and thus 'bai-bai'.
Ok. That's a little deep for a casual sinophile. The plot thickens.

Peder, usually I just append "Edit:<comment>". I too was wondering about AIE. I always imagined that you stepped on something painful (screamed 'AIE!'), and was compelled to write something about it in the post.
 
In Chinese culture

Number 88 symbolizes fortune and good luck in Chinese culture, since the word 8 sounds similar to the word Fā (发, which implies 发财, or wealth, in Mandarin or Cantonese). The number 8 is considered to be the luckiest number in Chinese culture, and prices in Chinese supermarkets often contain many 8s.
LOL. When I punch in the amount of cooking time on my microwave, I try to fit in an 8 somewhere. My favourite is "1-0-8" because in Cantonese it sounds like "yut ding fat" (most certain wealth). Sometimes I use "1 -2 -8" which sounds like "yut yee fat" (easy wealth) if I need a bit more time. :)
 
LOL. When I punch in the amount of cooking time on my microwave, I try to fit in an 8 somewhere. My favourite is "1-0-8" because in Cantonese it sounds like "yut ding fat" (most certain wealth). Sometimes I use "1 -2 -8" which sounds like "yut yee fat" (easy wealth) if I need a bit more time. :)

That is a truly novel way to get in a positive affirmation :)
 
It's very easy to spot Chinese computer system testers (at least in Malaysia/Singapore). If there are strings of continuous '8' anywhere in the testing data (dummy data that you key into systems to check if everything is working well before putting it in use in production environment), chances are your tester is Chinese. :)
 
Will someone please explain the difference between posting a comment on someone's Profile page and posting in a conversation.

'Cause I think I posted on a Profile page when it should have been a conversation. :(
 
"Conversations" are this forums private message system and basically work the the same as any PM except that the layout is pretty much the same as the forum posting.

Posting on the person's profile is public.
 
"Conversations" are this forums private message system and basically work the the same as any PM except that the layout is pretty much the same as the forum posting.

Posting on the person's profile is public.
Thanks. That's what I kinda figured out after I posted. :(
 
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