Emoticons :)

Count me as a reluctant member of the pro-emoticon club. I really only use the :), and only when it seems absolutely necessary - but if you get past the fact that yes, emoticons seem intended for “naïve tweens on AOL Instant Messenger finding out after-school soccer practice is canceled,” they actually do serve an extremely useful signalling function, particularly for those of us who tend toward sarcasm and other ambiguities in our email conversations.

Image emoticons, however, are obviously beyond the pale.

Comments

^~-.-~^

Posted by m | July 29, 2007 1:08 PM

***************@

centipede in a sombrero

Posted by Aaron Azlant | July 29, 2007 6:32 PM

:|

Posted by Bill | July 29, 2007 8:08 PM

Hmm, that doesn't work in Times Roman.

:-|

Posted by Bill | July 29, 2007 8:09 PM

Ross, this is an utterly unexpected betrayal of good taste.

We shall probably catch you eating McDonalds next.

I shudder at the thoughts.

Lovingly,

Posted by Scandal | July 29, 2007 8:31 PM

You are absolutely correct about emoticons. One can hardly imagine how anyone managed to express humor or sarcasm before their invention. Interesting fact: emoticons were actually discovered by Mark Twain! He was one of the first modern authors to use an early typewriter (the Sholes & Glidden Type Writer to be precise), and while working on "Life On The Mississippi" in 1982, stumbled on the fact that various combinations of typographical symbols resembled human expressions. In fact, an early draft of "Tom Sawyer" included emoticons (or "sideways-smiley bugs", as Twain called them), but he was dissuaded by the publisher. Unfortunately, that manuscript has been lost, and we can only conjecture how much funnier Twain's classic novel could have been!

Posted by R. Larrett | July 30, 2007 12:25 AM