Attack of the Emoticons

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Why do some people feel the need to punctuate every internet message possible with countless insane variants on " :) " ?

― mike hanle y, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

coz, otherwise people will take me too seriously ;-)

And IM has a whole list of emoti's just begging to be used.

― jel --, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i have started using it when i text message certain people. cuz i'm smiley smiling when i type the message.

― nathalie, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

and whats with puntuation is it really necessary does it add anything at all to the meaning of words strung together in a line

― Alan T, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i dont know alan sometimes i feel restrained by punctuation indeed spelling is sometimes a little bit to rigerous for me and i cannot or cant be arsed especially when no fuka is reading what i right

― Pete, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It's all so clear.

When I first stumbled onto the net, I was charmed (yes charmed!) by emoticons and used a few as I went. I've since found that after some BAD experiences where my tone wasn't fully clear -- especially given how quickly and suddenly tone can shift -- using them as punctuation for my more flippant and hopefully humorous conclusions is often necessary!

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

it's the combination of emoticons and brackets that always trips me up -- you can't end a parenthetical remark with a smiley, without it looking odd

― Alan T, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think if one wants to play safe with offending people they can be good. But one has to forgo all dignity.

WHY CAN I SOMETIMES NOT USE 'ONE' WITHOUT MAKING MYSELF SOUND LIKE A PRICK?

Anyway, yeah. Emoticons bleh. I like the challenge of conveying tone through real words. Like in books and that.

― N., Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hey, I don't use them all the time! But sometimes they're effective.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

WHY AREN'T YOU COMFORTABLE WITH 'YOU' (ABSTRACT/PLURAL) LIKE EVERYONE ELSE IS?

― Ellie, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Haha I love capital lettered rage.

― Ronan, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

http://home.graffiti.net/buglebear/emoticon.gif

― oh no! emoticons! oh no!!, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like :( because it looks like a bewildered and unhappy toad, but often they are used as a substitute for saying what you mean, a sloppy or cowardly way out of meaning it. This is not meant as an attack on anyone here - they seem to be used with sense and restraint here.

Oh, and I had a girlfriend for a while who would sometimes reply to flirtatious emails with smiley faces, which was all very well but hardly sustained a conversation.

― Martin Skidmore, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

When talking on AIM/ICQ I used to use lots of emoticons, full capitalization & punctuation, etc. when i later got into the habit of sloppy aim-speak like this, talking to various out of town friends or the ilx crowd, i would talk to my girlfriend like this and she would think i was mad at her or something if i wasn't taking the time to capitalize and delineating my tone with emoticons.

― Jordan, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

actually i use them a lot in irl, but usually i have to sort of fake or mimic them by using the moveable stuff on the front of my head

― mark s, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

hee hee hee hee hee hee hahahahaha

― Josh, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

oh for God's sake, comment on my picture someone, validate my dreary existence.

― jel --, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

jel yr pic = grebt

they ALL look v.sinister, except the one in dark glasses

― mark s, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

thanks Mark! (I feel silly now! oh well!)

― jel --, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

jel -- have you seen "The Fear" on b3ta. your pic reminds me of it. (However your pic does not give me the fear)

― Alan T, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

not seen that Alan, do u have a link??

― jel --, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'll look, but it's usually just tucked away in other images. it's sort of a stange chocolate and orange coloured two headed teddy-bear looking thing. it's nothing like your pic (which is ACE) but i was reminded of it.

― Alan T, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Jel, it's lovely. All look sinister except one in dark glasses = triangular eyes = sinister?

― Ellie, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I do use 'you' but sometimes it annoys me, as 'one' is a perfectly good word that avoids ambiguity. I hate having to say "no, not *you* you" all the time. Does anyone remember a wicked Hypnotone track called 'Yu-Yu'?

― N., Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Christ on a bike, Nick, not this AGAIN! Stop with the 'one' thing already!

― Emma, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I know. I feel like I have done a full circuit of my conversation topics, what with the good spelling thread and all. Maybe I should retire from ILE.

― N., Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Fish, fish....

― Emma, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Moderators -- please delete Nick.

― Colin Meeder, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Go start one of your bizarre moral-dilemma threads.

― Graham, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually I really wasn't fishing. Honest. Graham - I will try to dream up some preposterous (and quite possibly offensive) dilemma forthwith.

― N., Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like the picture. I'm glad you took the time to scan it in .

― mike hanle y, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

at last...

http://members.lycos.co.uk/mrpizza/b3ta/ot.jpg

― Alan T, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yay! that creature is cool!

thanks everyone (sorry about my *ahem* emotional outburst)

― jel --, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

best hydra evah, jel!

I was plagued a few years ago by animestruck friends who would use all the hyperkawaii ^_^-esque things (esp the whole ;-as-sweatdrop & I even think there was a kitten emoticon argh!)

― Ess Kay, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

researchers at Carnegie-Mellon have unearthed the first-ever emoticon

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 13 September 2002 16:28 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

Emoticons - classic or dud? ;-)

― jed (jed_e_3), Thursday, 9 October 2003 20:49 (twenty-two years ago)

three months pass...

So, am I right in thinking you can say pretty much anything you like, and people aren't allowed to take it seriously if you punctuate it with the requisite :) ?

― That famous guy who won a prize (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 January 2004 21:03 (twenty-two years ago)

You bunch of gibbering fuckers. ;)

― That famous guy who won a prize (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 January 2004 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Insufferable cunts. ;)

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 12 January 2004 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I've just grabbed the server and stuffed it in my pants. how does it feel, internet morons? :) xxxx

― That famous guy who won a prize (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 January 2004 21:06 (twenty-two years ago)

oooh what prize? ;)

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 12 January 2004 21:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I still love them.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 02:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I Am Winking As I Write This ;)

― omg, Tuesday, 13 January 2004 02:51 (twenty-two years ago)

:-)

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 03:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Does it work the other way?

Hi Orbit! :(

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 04:33 (twenty-two years ago)

What about winking and crying? ;(

― Fatal Beret (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 04:48 (twenty-two years ago)

great tune. by blind man jenkins, right?

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 05:01 (twenty-two years ago)

No, "Blind Man Jenkins" lived at the end of the street when we were kids, remember? We used to think it was funny to leave marbles on his porch and then one day it suddenly wasn't funny anymore.

― Fatal Beret (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 05:05 (twenty-two years ago)

ah yes. Don Henley wrote a song about that.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 05:09 (twenty-two years ago)

eight months pass...

my picture is lost forever :(

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Where did you last see it?

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I was hoping the "First ever emoticon" story would be pre-computer. ie "Bear enters - stage left :)", or maybe a cave painting.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 16:02 (twenty-one years ago)

on my hard drive before I reset my computer to factory settings.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 16:04 (twenty-one years ago)

seven months pass...

I don't think I've ever used this one:

It seems like it could be useful sometimes.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 27 May 2005 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

Emoticons: Persuasive, But Not That Persuasive.

“I have one friend in L.A. who IMs me ‘Hey sexy :)’ every morning,” Ilana Arazie, the author of the videoblog Downtowndiary.com, said in an e-mail message. “It’s his way of flirting and maybe seeing how far he can take our relationship. But no, I’m not getting on a plane to L.A. anytime soon.”

― G00blar, Saturday, 28 July 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

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