Years ago, when I first ventured online, I shunned the use of emoticons. I didn’t mind when other people used them, but I knew they weren’t for me. I believed they were a shortcut for people who wanted to communicate without sweating the actual words.
But sweating the actual words is what I do all day. I love words. My reverence for the power (the music, the magic) of language knows no bounds. True or not, I feel defensive when people say that a picture is worth a thousand words.
And anyway, I reasoned (social network newbie that I was), how hard could it be for a writer to make herself understood? I’ll be fine. Just me and my very precise, very selective, very graceful (famous last) words.
http://goodwizz.blogspot.com/2011/09/history-of-emoticons-and-smileys.html
x
My journey to the dark side was slow and reluctant. It took a few years and more than a few misunderstandings – not just with messages I’d written but also with messages I received. I once got a stinging tweet from a friend to which I responded with an earnest, heartfelt, overly long email trying to understand where his anger came from. He wrote back, “Oops. Forgot the smiley. Read it again with a smiley at the end.”
I did. It changed everything.
Not long after that, I had a similar situation in reverse. This time I was the tweeter, and the feelings hurt were someone else’s. I too asked the offended party to read the tweet again with a smiley at the end. She did, and she said okay, but our online relationship has never felt the same.
That incident was the beginning of my slide. I realized it was more important for me to properly communicate tone than stay strident on the question of emoticon usage. In the end, people’s feelings are worth more than my delicate writer’s ego, and humor – especially subversive or satirical humor – is hard to nail in writing. I may wish it were otherwise, but I’ve had to face facts: I’m no David Sedaris. In twitter-length communication, without benefit of my actual, real-life smile (tone of voice, posture, unwavering willingness to resort to slapstick), I’m much more likely to be misunderstood.
I wouldn’t call myself an emoticon advocate, but these days, when in doubt, I :).
How about you?
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I’m taking a break next week to grab some necessary downtime. I’ll be writing, and reading, and writing, and hiking, and writing, and planting, and then writing some more. I’ll be posting something special over at A Human Thing this Monday, and I’ll meet you back here on April 12th.
In the meantime, I just want to say that you guys totally rock. Thank you for all you give me… it is more than you can possibly know.
xox






