“ROFL…that was hilarious! :),” commented a friend. The well planted smiley underlined her happiness. I read the article twice to ascertain her amusement. All the while I tried to imagine her laughing face. Didn’t work. Closing eyes did not help either. I mean, can you imagine err, say someone like the Ms Bannerjee laughing? Forget laughing, a smile is hard to come by.
It is baffling when people who take pride in their gravitas send smiling and winking faces. Their ROFLs, LAMAOs and LOLs are equally inexplicable! What is understandable is that it is much easier to punch ROFL, than to actually roll on the floor and laugh until your ass hurts. Right?
However this post is not about laughter. It is about emoticons. Emoticons are textual expressions representing the writer's mood through facial expression.
The present century is all about imagination. Verbosity is out, brevity is in. More so for the testy teens who prefer to text or e-mail! Tyranny of words is not for them. So how do they convey emotions? This is where emoticons come in handy. I see people using emoticons to convey most complex, and complicated thoughts. Looks like, there is a symbol for everything.
I-O …. Well…I just yawned.
Confused? 0.O stands for confusion.
Embarrassed? : $ is for embarrassment.
And (6)corresponds to a devil. Now don’t show me an angry face (: ( ) I am simply trying to comprehend textual expressions here.
Over time emoticons have migrated from teen jargon to official parlance. Professionals, who revel in their solemnity, are happily embracing smiley faces. And indeed, smiling faces are a blessing. A smiley conveys that the comment was a joke and should be taken with a pinch of salt. Unnecessary misunderstanding is thus avoided.
And if you are a mother, you can comprehend symbols with the flourish of a master linguist. Over the years, I have learnt to unravel the deeper meaning of the emoticons texted by my son. A smiley after his exams tells me, ‘Phad diya’ or ‘Nailed it’ or ‘Dho dala’ …whatever. A winking face says ‘I didn’t study but don’t be upset’. A howling face signifies ‘Tough paper’ and a grimacing one is for ‘Wish I had studied instead of watching that stupid movie.’
But hang on. While a smiley blowing kisses, conveys precise intentions, some symbols are dubious. One has to be sure of the context. Also an emoticon does not always read the same way across different technical interfaces. Since BlackBerry is now catering to the youth, there is a side bar menu of emoticons that shows yellow faces which are smiling, raging, crying and blowing kisses.
Let me share an interesting anecdote, I read in the newspaper (NYT). After bagging an official deal, a lady sent a ‘big hug’ emoticon to her male office acquaintance. But on his iPhone the symbols didn’t appear like a big hug. From his perspective they looked like a view of, err, splayed lady parts: ({ }). He ran around excitedly, showing all his colleagues what the lady had sent. Half (mostly men) concurred with his interpretation, and the others (mostly women) thought he was some kind of a pervert.
So do not undermine the dangers of signs and symbols. Be sure of what you wish to convey. If you really liked this post, and want to give a thumbs-up, type (Y).
If you are disgusted, type (D:<).
No reaction? Type (: I)
But if you are exasperated, as in irritated, type (=.=), I will get the message.