From the standard.
Don’t be serious, put on a smiley face
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Recurring question regarding phone etiquette: should or should I not put a smiley face at the end of this text? (Is the exclamation mark enough to convey the fact that I’m joking? Are there too many smiley faces?)
Funny how punctation can become a part of our digital language. A few years ago, I was first taken aback that my parents knew how to text. Then they started saying `r u @ home?’ Then it was the awkward use of winky and smiley faces.
What is an appropriate use of these symbols?
Some people speak strongly against them because, undoubtedly, they replace certain words and sentence structures, causing a deterioration of writing skills. But this is inevitable with digital advancement.
I personally feel messages with too much ICQ language and smiley faces are quite distasteful, but an appropriate dosage of “emoticons” is great.
Let’s be honest – not everyone has good enough language skills to express their feelings perfectly through just words. And even if they do, the receiver might not have the skill-set to interpret accurately.
But emoticons are universal. You know: O means “surprise,” and :’ means “weep,” without any need for a clarification. Most times, they add lightheartedness and warmth to otherwise sterile messages.
The little symbols also clear up confusion and prevent misunderstandings. Last week, a friend asked if I wanted to go to see totally enormous extinct dinosaurs with him. At first, I thought he was trying to be funny. Then he kept repeating the same thing until I got a a little mad.
“Let me get this straight. You are going to a club, tonight, to see extinct dinosaurs. Have fun!” I replied, with a hint of sarcasm.
It turned out that Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs is a music producer/DJ (a pretty good one at that!).
If it were a face-to-face interaction, the misunderstanding would have been cleared up in a mere few seconds. With texts and our retardation on replies, as well as the lack of real-time emotions involved, it took three hours to resolve the confusion and some frustration.
Sometimes, I even receive e-mails from a professor, with a smiley face of encouragement at the end.
Some people are appalled. But why so serious?
Student Gloria Yu lives life with passion
and writes about it with hope.
http://thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=116473&sid=34223986&con_type=1&d_str=20111027&fc=7
