*Emoticon
The word emoticon is made up of the words emotion and icon.
Scott E. Fahlman was the inventor of the sideways smiley face 25 years ago, on 19 September 1982. Now these emoticons are widely and commonly used in e-mails, chatrooms, blogs and basically for all online purposes.
"Emoticons are used online to covey intonation or voice inflection, bodily gestures and emotion behind statements that might otherwise be misinterpreted." (Kayne 2009)
The most common emoticon used by online users is a smiley face, made with the colon [:] for eyes, hyphen for the nose [-] and the left parenthesis [)]as the smile. (Funell 2007)
That emoticon is viewed at a 90-degree angle, and a smile face is seen as this :-).
A few common emoticons include:
:-) smile
:-( sad
;-) wink
:-'( crying
>:) mischevious grin
:-/ smirk or frowning
:-S confused
:-P playfully sticking out your tongue
:-D laughing hard
>:-\ mad
:-O surprised
B-) a person wearing glasses
An emoticon is normally used to differentiate a statement between a serious tone or a more relaxed tone. The little emoticon can make a huge difference when conveying a message.
For example:
#1 Josh, you're even slower than a turtle!
#2 Josh, you're even slower than a turtle! :-P
The first sentence appears to be more likely like an insult. Misunderstandings might occur as it sounded in a more serious tone.
However with the emoticon at the end of the second sentence, it is clearly seen in a more jokingly manner. The emoticon is labelled as a "joke marker".
*Email, Good or Bad?
Since the 1970s, email has evolved into the communication tool of choice for information technology academics and professionals. (Berghel 1997)
Efficient, fast, asynchronous, time saving, paper conserving, amendable contents, and the tools provided on the desktop are some of the technical advantages of emails.
Besides that, there is also the darker side to emails.
Emails became so convenient, it allows an individual to become lazy, encourages abuse at the interpersonal level and irresponsible mass mailing. The security issue is also a major problem followed by the rise of virus attacks and privacy issues.
According to Putnis and Petelin (1996), writing normally uses a more formal vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure if compared to speaking. Therefore, email makes it easier for an individual as no face to face communication is needed. This, can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how the individual perceives.
References
1. Berghel, H., 1997, 'Email: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly', Digital Village (Online accessed 11 June 2009)
URL: http://www.berghel.net/col-edit/digital_village/apr-97/dv_4-97.php
2. Funell, A. 2007, 'What exactly is an emoticon? And what makes for good and bad email?', ABC Radio National (Online accessed 12 June 2009)
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2064342.htm
3. Kayne, R. 2009, What are emoticons? (online accessed 12 June 2009)
URL: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-emoticons.htm
4. Putnis, P & Petelin, R 1996, 'Professional communication: principles and applications', Prentice Hall, Sydney.
emoticons have grown to be virtual expressions we can't show in person, ahhh what'd i do without this C: or T________T to perceive how "depressing" i am at that moment or even this :O to scoff/gasp!
ReplyDelete:-) to this post !
ReplyDeleteI say yes to emails as it has help us in so many ways,way more than it has given us problems. Its the fastest way to send importang information such as articles,documents and also a super fast verison of a letter through post.
ReplyDeleteAbout the emoticons,i never really use to like them just because i wasnt use to typing them out but now as i have got the hang of it,i think its an important tool to convey your emotions when conversing over the internet.
Good Job on the Article =)