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Smileys

Smileys

(OP)
Let all hell break loose.

I don't wink when I make a dry joke face to face, and I prefer not to use smileys in my writing. I work hard to make it stand on its own. But smileys are so pervasive, people have lost their ability to discern irony and tongue-in-cheek writing without them. "No smiley?! That jerk is serious!"

Rob Campbell
www.livejournal.com/users/robcampbell

RE: Smileys

While you may not wink, you most likely do offer other non-verbal clues in a face-to-face situation.  The intonation of your voice perhaps, or you might cross your arms, tilt your head, smile, whatever...

These subtle cues are not available in written form, and there is a real possibility that things could be misunderstood by the reader.

Enter the "emoticon".  They came into being for a valid reason.  They are probably overused now.  I rarely use them.

RE: Smileys

I understand what you're saying, but it's considerably easier when speaking to convey subtle meanings.  Body language, facial expressions, pace, and tone of voice all play a role in face-to-face communications.  The written word does not enjoy those nuances from which to project intention, as all you really have is context.  Consequently, it’s more difficult to convey sarcasm, or jesting remarks in text.  To some degree, a smiley can be used for that purpose, but you must choose your words carefully.

That being said, I rarely use them, and don’t consider them as part of the lexicon.

RE: Smileys

Howdy rjcjr9 ,

What do you find acceptable in the written humor arena.

Smileys are just plain fun . I would be sad if nobody used them.

Regards

ietech

RE: Smileys

(OP)
My response came off harsher than I meant it to. But that's the risk you take, living on the edge without IMHOs or smileys.

Rob Campbell
www.livejournal.com/users/robcampbell

RE: Smileys

[sarcasm]I love the overflow of programming jargon into the written word also.[/sarcasm]

It's just as bad as emoticons.  But to be fair, I don't think we'll ever see any of this in professional documents.  I think emoticons have their place in the casual-electronic-chat writting environment.

Ray Reynolds
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Smileys

Most engineers aren't nearly as funny as they would like to believe they are.  A few cues wouldn't hurt.

Due to illness, the part of The Tick will be played by... The Tick.
http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

RE: Smileys

Now that was funny TheTick.

RE: Smileys

I personally like the emoticons even though I have not taken the time to learn how to use them.  On the other hand, I very much appreciate those people who can write so very effectively with tongue-in-cheek w/o the emoticons as the guy who wrote the long mock-renunciation of redundancy in that thread.  It was hilarious and for a short while I even thought he was serious because it was so well done.

Jesus is THE life,
Leonard

RE: Smileys

I love the little smileys.
I never use them except here and in personal e-mails.

I hate those keyboard abreviation things that are neither initialisms nor acronyms, at least, not al of them.
You can say HIPPO (Hey, I'm permanently p***d-off) by these and other baggage of the "new" communications technology.

OK, we need kids to set up the video recorder. To carry our genes forward and so on (not much else you can depend on them for, you have to carry the trash out yourself, cut the grass yourself, feed the hamsters, rabbits ect yourself), but we and our ancestors spent a long time evolving the language with all the richness and subtleties of meaning. We don't need kids to replace it with gobbledegook. You'd think we should expect the kids to make it work, spell correctly, understand the rules of grammar, in short make us look as dumb about langauage as thy do the video recorder. Instead they got text messaging and e-mails before they got "the language" and they made there own.

It's about time mobile phones came with dictionaries. Hey, I've ot a great idea. Voice texting! Instead of cramping their little fingers (these kids are going to get Repetitive strain injury early) why don't they just speak their message to the phone. The voice recognition program turns it into good clean written english. Then they text it to their friends phone where the phone converts the text to back into spoken words for them.
Ain't that great? VTTTTV! (Voice to text and text to voice; and see, this is the only way i use these abreviations, define them once early on then use them. Never use them without a definition).

Now with this, i could get along. I hate text messages, i have to spell them one letter at a time because that funny spelling trick they have has me hopelessly lost, and i can't remember all those silly abreviations anyway.

RE: Smileys

Shakespere with emoticons:

"Out damned spot!"

"Romeo, oh Romeo, where for art thou?"

"Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well "

RE: Smileys

   +   +
+         +
 +       +
   + ++ +

(just kidding)

I not only sometimes use smileys, I insert animated GIF's into emails just for fun. Sometimes it breaks up the stress in the work place.

RE: Smileys

That's why someone created smileys

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