wsieber's question about the difference between disease, illness, sickness reminded me of something I've been wondering about: could someone please explain to me the difference between avatar and icon, and between icon and emoticon? I think I have something of a grasp on the last two, but between the first two I am lost. For some reason, I am thinking that an avatar should be "human": not necessarily a photo of a real person, but a drawing or painting of one, or even some kind of creature--as long as it has some human-like quality (facial expression, speech, etc.) about it.