By Eugenia Chao
The earliest inklings of what we now call smileys appear in the King James Version of the Holy Bible, where we read about “multitudes both of men and women;)” (Acts 5:14). Do you see a face hidden in the text? Or “…God accepteth no man’s person:)” (Galatians 2:6): a smiling one here? Or maybe a wink and a frown: “he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote” (Ephesians 3:3). Study the following hieroglyphs and their translations. Do they make sense to you? (Note: to decipher them, one must have fairly developed mental skills and rotate the pictographs 90 degrees clockwise.) :-)’ User tends to drool. :-)8 User is well dressed. :-{ User has a moustache. :-* User just ate a sour pickle. :-& User is tongue-tied. X ) User is cross-eyed. ;^? User is punched out and dazed. :-))) User is very overweight. (:o User is completely bald. “:-) User shaved his right eyebrow off this morning. -:-) User has a mohawk. :B User has protruding front teeth. *-( User got poked in the eye. :- User is inexpressive :-{8 User is unhappy with the results of her breast-enlargement surgery m(_ _)m User bows in apology or gratitude (viewed from the front). [8^) Dilbert. There are an infinite existing and proliferating emoticons. Above are just a few variants of the basic smile :) and frown :(. There are numerous unprintable ones as well–graphic illustrations of certain human body parts or vivid depictions of lewd behavior. Emoticons add expressiveness, emotion, and aesthetics to written discourse. They may amplify the feeling expressed in the sentence, add a subtle spin to it, or even contradict its sentiment. In synchronic communication (on-line chats), smileys can help to clarify a friendly feeling when otherwise the tone of a sentence might be ambiguous. It can also express subtle denial or sarcasm, cheerfulness, and even self-consciousness. Chats do not rely on paralinguistic features (gestures, looks, laughs, etc.) as do face-to-face conversations, and thus need other means to avoid misunderstandings. But are these smileys becoming, instead of a convenience, a hindrance, or an annoyance? Let us consider these problems. First, emoticons are grossly overused. This often happens because the speaker feels he must make up for his deficiency in expression. The little electronic faces are useful in chats (ICQ, AOL, etc.), especially when one can find nothing intelligent to say or, for lack of vocabulary, cannot suitably express his feelings. However, many people find a certain glee in inserting smileys in emails in lieu of normal punctuation marks. Example: "Hey, long time no see :P So how did your midterms go ;D” When reading this, do you feel jeered at? Another problem with emoticons is their ambiguity. These creative, artistic little icons do not mean the same things to everyone. Do smileys intended to be cute or friendly appear to be leering or laughing at you? Let us test a few emoticons for ambiguity. “;o” look at the eyes–is that a wink, or a tear? “:p” is this sticking out one’s tongue in an embarrassed, lewd, or taunting way, or simply the action of licking? If the recipient and the author of the smiley have different conceptions of exactly which emotions are behind the icon, innumerable misunderstandings may arise–one might be offended, falsely led on, or feel hurt. Yes, smileys are cute :), in fact, adorable :D, but if you use them to excess ;O, you will only succeed in confusing :-/, disturbing :(, and annoying >:O your correspondents. Get the idea ;P? P.S. I give my most sincere apologies m(_ _)m for pushing the point in such a manner… #Volume 6 Issue 4 a
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May 2024
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