Happy 25th Birthday :-)

Being relatively new to the internet or user groups in my late fifties, I questioned the use of emoticons. I could not understand why you would not be able to comprehend humor, sacasm or anactual point from writing. I have had to rely on the style of writing to comprehend books and other written material most of my life. I was told that the emoticons add to precision. That is what I thought vocabulary was for. Although, it is not one of my strong suits.

You obviously havn't read many of my posts..

Now the test! Am I ...

1 Being witty?

2 Sarcastic?

3 Grumpy?

4 Another unspecified one of the 7 Dwarves?

5 Just a cat?

6 Or am I trying to illustrate the shortsightedness of your comment?

7 Just an argumentative git?

I have a pretty good understanding and usage of English, however there are cultural differences, especially humour which can easilly lead to missunderstandings. Were I even more popmous than I actually am I would expect everyone to marvel at my quirky English humour and never take offence. However I get it wrong sometimes and an emoticon can help out.

Del ( Just a Cat with Catitude!)

I've noticed that some people have a strong dislike of the use of 'smilies'. Paradoxically many of them use the type constructed from keyboard characters. I personally hate the kind of stuff that (mainly teens) produce on cell-phone SMS. I understand the viewpoint that clear use of 'normal' language should be promoted, but perhaps we have to move with the times. Throughout history people have probably cursed the corruptions introduced by younger generations. Some of the smiley faces are ambiguous (even though they have names which can be seen by clicking). I mangle English pretty good even though it's my native tongue - use of emoticons may help or hinder those who grew up with another language (?). I'd say it expedites communication, as long as folk seek clarification if non-plussed by something they read. (=exasperated/confused/drunk/joking/ ? etc). Just to further confuse the issue, the smiley has associations with drug-culture in the UK. Perhaps all 16 could be posted and we could have a sort of miss-world contest to vote for appropriate names. The could mean all sorts of things. As for abbreviations WTFHITAA,ICGOAOAOAOAO. (OK, I invented that one - ' What is that all about, it could go to extremes' ).

I can understand the need for these.

With just friends I know very well and regularly see in person we've had misunderstandings about various email & IM comments.

When you talk to someone face to face your tone of voice & facial expressions tell the person a lot about your meaning.

The emotion cons can serve the purpose to convey those facial expressions.

So just imagine with a large group such as CR4 all the misunderstandings that can occur because of different terminology used from different areas of the world.

many people use them way to much in my opion but to each their own I guess.

I absolutely agree. Not everyone reads humor (or English, for that matter) the same way. What a poster believes is easily identified sarcasm is often misconstrued as a personal affront by readers. That this problem can be avoided by simply tacking to the end of the post is a great communication medium.

I think language's main function is to transfer information. It may be ideas, emotions or rythymic constructions, but the fundamemtal result is the transfer of information.

Whatever additional aspects we use to enhance that transfer is a reflection of our desire to transfer the information effectively. Those of us who own pets transfer information through language with gestures added to enhance the communication.

Raising children will often cause the language used to be expressed with an additional level of volume which is meant to ensure the information is communicated.

It seems the use of emoticons is another means to enhance the transfer information.

Pehaps similar images will someday replace the majority of non technical text. It brings to mind that old expression "a picture is worth a thousand words".

I somehow never got the idea of emoticons. It seemed to be a cheat on clear English prose. However, you have convinced me that they're very useful in a broad audience of people who primarily speak something other than the author's native language. I am amazed that someone could change my mind about something!

I'm a stubborn person, but I enjoy the (rare) occassions when a conversation actually changes my mind about something.

Before anyone gets relaxed with a smiley, scroll down this link.

Did you notice?

Assignee Name and Adress: Microsoft Corporation