No laptop, yet, but a weird train of thought led me to the subject of emoticons. Uh-huh, you read that right. Emoticons. Sometimes I'm a very deep thinker.
I read somewhere that when a person reads an email, some huge percentage of it is misconstrued. Something ridiculous, like 99.9%, or maybe that's just my personal percentage, going by some of the responses I get.
I used to think it was silly to use emoticons, period. Especially the text-based ones, like ;-). LAME. After many misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and rejected marriage proposals, I decided that a little "wink" couldn't hurt, just to let people know when I am yanking their chains. I still have issues with the basic "smiley". It often seems condescending to me, which is ironic, since the whole purpose of emoticons is to clarify the sentiment behind the statement. :) Did you feel I talked down to you, just then? No? I guess that's one more for the therapist.
Since I've discovered animated .gifs, however, I've become addicted to emoticons. I can make an entire post consisting of these things. They're so powerful, and with them, I'll never be misunderstood again!
Check this out: I'm going to retype a few sentences from this post, and I'll add an emoticon. See if your interpretation changes:
I can make an entire post consisting of these things.
I can make an entire post consisting of these things.
I can make an entire post consisting of these things.
In the first example, I'm bragging. I'm feeling pret-ty damn smug that I can make a post using only emoticons. In the second, I'm blown away by the fact that I can make a post using only emoticons. In the third, I'm thinking that I probably should have added a few words to my post, since someone seemed to have misinterpreted that wink emotie.
Another example:
Sometimes I'm a very deep thinker.
Sometimes I'm a very deep thinker.
Sometimes I'm a very deep thinker.
In the first, take me literally. I'm ponderous! In the second, I am soooooo not a very deep thinker, but that's a good one! In the third example, I'm thinking impure thoughts, deeply.
One more, but this time I'll just use a simple phrase:
I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
In the first, I'm genuinely sorry. In the second, I'm playing the World's Smallest Violin. In the third, I've completely lost you.
Finally, I'm going to demonstrate how an entire conversation
can be held using no text at all.
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Well, you get the picture.
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