Who… I mean the writing of random people on the internet is so precise and clear and fully edited, and yet, spontaneous that I find that I read the classic authors less, because their prose is so pretencious and condesending… As if they almost relish their status as icons of the literature world.

Let’s not forget the wonderful texture that overuse of the ellipsis adds.. shall we :p

Problem is, you’re writing not just to friends who relish your dry wit, but to folks who may not even know you. A smiley helps your correspondent gauge you and encourages you to enliven your writing and take risks, eg, forays into humor or irony, without fear of misinterpretation.

It’s a cheap shot to point out Dickens, etc. didn’t need them. When you’re reading a novel, you do not assume that the author is talking to you, Joe Blow, personally and you do not scrutinize the tone for impertinence or gather clues as to what the author really thinks of you.

To thine own self be true.

And they are all, all honorable men.

Etc.

Honestly, my dear Sultan, I had no idea I was opening such a can of worms. I thought I was just venting to both my readers.

This is my favorite smiley because I like to stick my tougue out at people and, although the act is childish, I still like to do it, and smileys are the only way I’ve found to do that on the internet.

And, just for the record, and I think Scott will back me up on this, not everyone who reads a well written novel is able to exactly grasp the tone and students often get confused by sarcastic passages. That’s why we have literature professors.

“Message, Spock?”

Ah. I do love the classics.

It was the best of times.

It was the worst of times.

Powerful.

So everyone by now should know what an emoticon is. You know, those little smileys. They laugh, cry, even vomit,…

I do include smileys in my emails to adminsitration, though. Chicks can get away with that stuff.

Dr. Taylor at Poliblog has defended the use of emoticons because they better enable to e-mail to express tone. I’ve given a lot of thought to that issue in the past, and I’m a bit ambivalent about that argument.

It also works in e-mail, because the responses are often short, if not terse.

What, pray tell, is wrong with that?

Also: are you suggesting that when you write an e-mail you include adjectives and adverbs to underscore your letter-writing, as is done in dialog in novels? (e.g., “I love your dress,” he said sarcastically. or “Get out!” she screamed, the pain of the even thick in her voice).

We are talking about conversational communication, which isn’t the same as Dickens.

And note: it ain’t as if I use them all the time on the blog, so clearly my point isn’t that they are the only way (or even the chief way) to demonstrate tone.

For example, I noted the derision and sarcasm in your tone and your didn’t use any emoticons whatsoever.

Indeed, can you sense my irritation and mild degree of surprise that you found it necessary to drop into a lighthearted discussion (check out the non-emoticoned text in the post again) and be rather, well, rude?

Cheers.