DEAR READER :-) |
Everybody is aware of the enormous improvements that technology has made in our lives. The government’s military and space programs have produced vast improve-ments in materials and manufacturing processes. Biological and medical research has improved our health and extended our life expectancy. The internet is changing the way we communicate, do business, and collect information.
But we don’t fully appreciate some of the other ways in which our lives have changed. Consider, for example, the art of personal communication. We’re not talking about e-mail or the cellular phone. We’re talking about the hand-written personal note and the typewritten business letter.
In the beginning days of the internet when connection time was restricted and expensive, the users of e-mail developed special symbols and acronyms to save key-strokes, just as the early telegraphers did. These are a shorthand way of expressing moods using the standard typewriter keyboard characters, intended to simplify e-mail messages and make their content more meaningful in a concise and easily understandable manner. With simple symbols they permit the writer to express such emotions as happiness :-), sadness :-(, disgust :-|, anger :-< or >>:-<<, condescension :-8(, indifference :-I, disappointment :-e, or any other of the entire gamut of human emotions. They are called emoticons, popularly known as smileys, and have introduced an entire new dimension into our written language.
It’s difficult to overstate what a powerful means of written communication they represent. Consider, for example, a simple thank-you note to your cousin after spending the July 4 weekend at her home at the seashore:
Dear Ethel :-), :-)
I just want to let you know what a wonderful weekend it was ##-). When your brother Joe started telling jokes I was ROFL. Too bad we never got to the nude beach ;-) Love <XXXX>.
Notice what a world of meaning is conveyed by using the emoticons. Right away the two smiling faces show you’re much more than plain happy. The ##-) emphasizes how great it was. And when she reads ROFL she remembers and visualizes how everybody was laughing and slapping their knees at her brother’s jokes. The wink ;-) shows you’re just kidding about the nude beach. The use of the X’s is universal and predates the internet. See how much more expressive the letter is than it would be by the use of words alone.
Suppose you want to write a letter to an automobile repair shop complaining about the work they did on you car:
Defective Motors, Inc. P-)
Gentlemen :-<
When I brought my car into your shop for an oil change, it was running perfectly. Now I have to change the oil every 500 miles. I demand satisfaction for the damage you caused or I will sue :-@
Here you’ve told them they’re a bunch of pirates P->, that you’re very angry :-< and that you’re screaming at them :-@. They certainly know they have to take you seriously.
You’re involved in a law suit and your lawyer sends a letter to the lawyer for the other side:
Smith, Smith & Smith, Esqs.
Gentlemen :-8(
We have read your response to our complaint and feel that it has no merit IOHO. Perhaps the next step in this action is to go to court :-I
Very truly yours,
Notice how your attorney has established his superiority by the initial condescension :-8C, the use of irony when he says IOHO (In Our Humble Opinion), and :-I shows his indifference about whether or not there is a trial. After reading this letter, the opposing attorney knows he’d better settle on your terms, or he’s in trouble.
Once the emoticons become fully integrated into our language, they will permit written communication to become a combination of letter, phone call and face to face conversation. The potential for misunderstanding of the written word that lacks the tone and expression of voice, of facial expression and of signals given out by body language will be eliminated. People will be able to express thoughts and feelings with an openness and frankness that have been previously unattainable.
As has been the case with so many other major innovations, the inventors of the emoticon had no idea of the communications revolution they were creating.