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RockGolf 
"1500+ reviews. 1 joke."
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 Posted - 08/08/2008 : 22:04:37
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I forget who told me, but I agree with what I once heard: You can't read tone from an e-mail. It's impossible to be sure if someone is serious or sarcastic.
Smileys help alleviate that situation. |
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chazbo 
"Outta This Fuckin' Place"
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Posted - 08/08/2008 : 22:07:27
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Apparently, our ancestors were better spellers, as is attested here.
Where did we go wrong?!
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benj clews 
"...."
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Posted - 08/08/2008 : 23:17:05
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quote:
Originally posted by R o � k G 0 1 f
I forget who told me, but I agree with what I once heard: You can't read tone from an e-mail. It's impossible to be sure if someone is serious or sarcastic.
Smileys help alleviate that situation.
This is exactly what I was thinking. When you aren't well enough acquainted with the reader to know how they will interpret your words, writing without smileys is akin to speaking to a stranger with an expressionless face and no vocal fluctuation. |
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Sal[Au]pian 
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 08/09/2008 : 01:22:22
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| That doesn't make emoticons essential to convey tone -- it just means that they're a safety net for people like us. One doesn't see a whole lot of smileys in novels. |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 08/09/2008 : 03:01:23
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quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
That doesn't make emoticons essential to convey tone -- it just means that they're a safety net for people like us. One doesn't see a whole lot of smileys in novels.
But in novels the writer isn't talking directly to the reader.  |
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Sal[Au]pian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 08/09/2008 : 03:16:35
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quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
But in novels the writer isn't talking directly to the reader.
Um, that makes no difference to the point at hand -- that it is perfectly possible to convey tone with written words only. Who is being addressed affects why one wants a certain tone, not one's ability to create it. Besides, much non-smileyfied text, such as many newspaper columns, is directed at the reader. I only gave novels as an example, but if Heller could manage Catch-22, then tone is most certainly possible without little faces being dotted around. |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 08/09/2008 : 05:41:03
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Sure, but novelists and journalists etc could be expected to have a higher level of competence when it comes to tone in writing, as well as articles generally being proof-read for clarity. But cyber forums and internet chat commonly involve less competent writers and flippant remarks involving sarcasm and humour, with posts that aren't subjected to editing. Smileys are an easy and fast way to remove all doubt as to whether the tone will be understood or not.
You don't need smileys, but they do help comprehension. Smileys are internet 'body language'.  |
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rockfsh 
"Laugh, Love, Cheer"
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Posted - 08/09/2008 : 17:21:24
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| Kant beatum? Den joinum |
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Sal[Au]pian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 08/10/2008 : 00:13:17
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quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
Sure, but novelists and journalists etc could be expected to have a higher level of competence when it comes to tone in writing, as well as articles generally being proof-read for clarity. But cyber forums and internet chat commonly involve less competent writers and flippant remarks involving sarcasm and humour, with posts that aren't subjected to editing. Smileys are an easy and fast way to remove all doubt as to whether the tone will be understood or not.
You don't need smileys, but they do help comprehension. Smileys are internet 'body language'.
You are just agreeing with what I had already said then (smileys are a safety net for people like us). |
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lemmycaution 
"Long mired in film"
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Posted - 08/10/2008 : 05:42:17
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Let me make myself perfectly cleer:                          |
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Ali
"Those aren't pillows."
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Posted - 08/11/2008 : 06:29:40
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Salopian - I would have supported the language reform. When I say I am a traditionalist, I must use a qualifier, but I won't, because I am a riddle, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in bacon.
The inability to understand tone, or to sifficiently put it forward in one's writing, is a deficiency that needs to be rectified by reading and writing more. The use of visual aides, which, for all intents and porpoises, is what smileyz are, does not aliviate the actual problem at hand.
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 08/11/2008 : 10:31:57
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quote:
Originally posted by Ali
... wrapped in bacon.
Hm... And all this time, I thought you were Muslim.
(Or perhaps, you mean the actor? Nah!)
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Ali
"Those aren't pillows."
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Posted - 08/11/2008 : 13:53:39
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It's turkey bacon. Ho-hum.
Fun Fact of the Day: I actually eat pork. Not like that, you perverts.
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 08/11/2008 : 16:32:26
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quote:
Originally posted by Ali
It's turkey bacon. Ho-hum.
Fun Fact of the Day: I actually eat pork. Not like that, you perverts.
[insert appropriate "that was funny" smilie here]
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benj clews
"...."
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Posted - 08/11/2008 : 16:43:26
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| Just out of curiousity, in a world without smileys, how does one go about being sarcastic? |
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Oh NO! 'They' are winning!!!
