Ok, I really think this emoticon thing has gone too far.

It´s reached the point where a lot of people use more emoticons than words! You can see a whole dialogue with only emoticons. It´s sad, it´s boring, it´s lazy. It makes us lose control over the language and it spreads like a virus to other media where it definitely doesn´t belong. I recently received a (real written) letter with no less than nine emoticons in it!

Our emotions are far too complex to boil down to simple words. That´s a well known fact that even experienced poets and authors are struggling with every day. But at least words can give us a far more subtle and nuanced idea of what is being conveyed than emoticons can!

The last straw for me was when I myself recently replied to a post using only an emoticon and nothing else. When I saw it, I thought to myself: "Oh my, that doesn´t even come close to describing how I was feeling. How did I get this pathetic?".

I´m sure most of you don´t feel pathetic when you use emoticons. But as an experiment, can we try discussing the pros and cons of emoticons here without actually using a single emoticon? It will sure be interesting to see how many replies I will get...and how long it will take before some "prankster" posts a whole series of emoticons and thus proves my point...

okay gotcha oops

ignore my signature

JustinCase said:

And here's your "prankster"

In real life, there is verbal and non-verbal communication.

Emoticons were originally used as a means of avoiding misunderstandings because of the lack of non-verbal information in cyberspace. As a device, they are very useful to show if one is being ironic, for example.

Now, some people are more gifted with words than others, and emoticons - in their current form - allow many people to communicate without the hassles of the written language.

As you know, language is mainly processed by the left side of the brain, whereas emotions, intuition and visual stimulis depend on the right brain. Emoticons, like pictograms, are definitely more intuitive than words and that may be why they are frowned upon by societies that value 'serious', abstract language.

The religious and moral taboo surrounding representations can be found in all major book-based religions. In Christian civilization, the term 'iconoclast' ('image-breaker') was coined to describe those who opposed the depiction of holy characters (as in Byzantine icons).

I like emoticons and I'm also using them in traditional media (like letters and memos). They can add a more playful tone to an otherwise dry message.

I'd say I'm not an emoticonoclast.

when U as much as do U can't use them!

RULE #1Never suggest people NOT do something on a thread. They will make an effort to overdo it.

EvilWhiteMale said:

...and thus proving my point (like I said), which is fine with me.

I actually think Emoticons help present the intent of our language here.

I agree it can be lazy but I don't think that's true as a general rule.

EvilWhiteMale said:

Well, DUH!

Vibrator said:

Yeah, kinda like asking for it!

June7 said:

Hyungbu said:

I wouldn´t say I frown upon emoticons or even dislike them as such (I use them myself). I´m also familiar with their history and the original reasons behind them, which are perfectly understandable. I just think they´re generally overused and often create misunderstandings rather than avoid them.

A normal "smile" emoticon, for example, always looks the same but is used to describe a million different kinds of smiles. So when we see a thread with, say, seventeen "smiles" in it, I think we subconsciously assume that everybody who used that emoticon was feeling more or less the exact same thing (which of course isn´t true), whereas if they had used a couple of words instead we would have had a far greater chance of understanding their true emotion. I´m not talking about any advanced use of language here, just making a very small effort to choose a word or two.

So again, I´m definitely not an enemy of the emoticons. I just think the whole thing is getting a bit out of hand and makes us look a bit more stupid than we actually are.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Maybe not. I´ve just seen too many threads with whole "emoticon dialogues" lately. On occasions like that I feel like the person behind the username has disappeared and been replaced with a computer or something...

Cloudbuster said:

I knew you would be lurking here, you emoti-terrorist!