Re: Smiley Punctuation

[Sally Marquigny <SALLYM -at- MSMAILHQ -dot- NETIMAGE -dot- COM>]

Karla McMaster writes:

Personally, I feel that if what I write
needs an emoticon to defuse or explain it, then I probably haven't thought
enough about the words I used. Novels aren't full of emoticons, yet most of
us
seem to understand sarcasm and humor when we read it.

 -----------------
This cyberworld is an unusual place, where we don't know one another yet can
say what we wish without interruption to a basically captive audience.
Although electronic communication is indeed written text rather than spoken
word, its tone generally falls under that of casual conversation (someone's
bound to do a dissertation on this), perhaps due to its speed of
transmission.  And because we're all busy bees, few of us take the time &
energy to write our emails as well as our documentation.

It seems a lot of the confusion and offense *is* attributable to
misunderstandings or unfollowed conventions of communications (whether they
be smileys or respectful conversations or appropriate list postings).  Lack
of tones of voice & facial expression & even just a mental image of the
other individuals drives us humans crazy, so we get creative with the
special characters & make the machine have a face in a way.

I'm not in favor of regulating Mr. Smiley because I love to see the creative
variations, but I think he does have a place in emails, especially those
jotted down quickly.  So whether everyone uses him or not, I think he's here
to stay! :)


Sally Marquigny                    Network Imaging Systems
sallym -at- msmailhq -dot- netimage -dot- com       Herndon, VA

"Great men, like nature, use simple language."
 --Luc de Clapiers Vauvenargues