Comment: Emoticons R Us

Actually, it’s more of a confession. Take a deep breath, sit down, and listen carefully.

I’m hooked on emoticons.

There. I said it. And I feel so dirty. ;)

No really, it’s embarrassing.

I’ve started really laying on the emoticons, and this is something I am concerned about, to say the least. I always thought I was not one of “those” people, the ones who use little smiley faces on everything and multiple exclamation points to clarify my feelings. But guess what? I do!! ☺

Seriously, it’s something I’ve only recently started doing and I wasn't sure why, but I thought it bore some examination. In the past, I saw emotional exclamation points and little typed faces and smiley winky yellow faces as pretty fakey and cutesy and only in use by women who draw hearts above the “I” in their name, but apparently that’s not the case.

Because I use them. A lot.

But I think know why I use them.

I use them not because they are cute, but because they are useful. In theatre when you overact, it's called "indicating," and the little faces you make with your keypad or Yahoo! Messenger are indicators. And in today's ever-electronic, never-in-person world, we need some serious indicating.

Because email is a nefarious and tricky medium. And unless you want to appear like an asshole much of the time, a few little emoticons are in order.

And there’s ample choice—on Yahoo! You have a wide range of expressive little yellow faces. And of course, you can always do the plain old typed ones--;) for the winky one, :o for the mouth agape one, etc.

But let’s look at this in action. For example, you are writing to say “I feel just super today.” With no emoticon or emotional punctuation, this is harder to decipher; are you saying it deadpan (as I often do) or with major sarcasm (guilty!!!) or with a happy face and an exclamation point? Because it makes a difference. So if you’re happy and you know it, put on a happy face. And if you’re irritable, find the vomiting one, or the one where the eyes are bugging out. I’m partial to the cowboy with the green hat. He just seems like such a friendly guy, like he’s tipping his hat and saying, “Thank you maam, now you have a nice day here in the wild west. I gotta mosey.”

If you say “Dear so and so, I hate you!”, but there’s a winky face, then this person will know that you are kidding and that they are still your friend. So much of email can be grossly misinterpreted. Sarcasm does not work well on email, so at least use an eye rolling emoticon if you’re being sarcastic. Otherwise people will take you literally and possibly no longer enjoy your company. Or maybe that was bound to happen anyway ;).

So I guess what I’m saying is, I’m the “them” I always mocked and/or feared. Ladies and gentlemen, we have seen the enemy and it is us . ☺