{"id":2045,"date":"2011-11-05T01:51:32","date_gmt":"2011-11-05T06:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?p=2045"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:36:01","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T20:36:01","slug":"i-am-such-a-trend-setter-lol-omg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/05\/i-am-such-a-trend-setter-lol-omg\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am Such a Trend-Setter!! :) LOL OMG"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A couple of months ago, a business associate of mine ended a text message to me with a funny emoticon (AKA smiley). As it turns out, he had intended to send it to his daughter, but sent it to me accidentally. Well, that inspired me, so, with considerable help from Google, I discovered how to add emoticon capability to my text messaging function of my phone. Since then, I have been treating my friends and family members to my inspiring collection of pictures. So far, my business colleagues have been spared.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I just thought I was having fun. It turns out, however, that I am a trend-setter. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say I\u2019m riding a cultural wave. I learned this from the New York Times<\/em>, of all places. A few days ago, Judith Newman published a piece that\u2019s now called \u201cIf You\u2019re Happy and You Know It, Must I Know Too?\u201d<\/a> She chronicles the growing popularity of emoticon usage in business communications. As one executive explains:<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally I\u2019ll use a smiley or a wink when I\u2019m indicating that my previous comment was meant to be a joke. Like, I hired a guy who\u2019s head of sales and marketing to launch my company into the wonderful world of social media, and I sent him a note \u2014 \u2018I hear there\u2019s this thing called Twitter\u2019 \u2014 and I added the smiley so he knew I wasn\u2019t that clueless.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not all.<\/p>\n

Lisa M. Bates<\/a>, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia, has lately embraced the smiley \u2014 as have her academic colleagues, albeit \u201csparingly and strategically,\u201d she said. \u201cBasically, I\u2019m often sarcastic and in a hurry, and a well-planted smiley face can take the edge off and avoid misunderstanding,\u201d Dr. Bates wrote in an e-mail. \u201cI figure they have saved me some grief from misconstrued tone many times.\u201d<\/p>\n

But not everyone is happy about the proliferation of little faces:<\/p>\n

Students of digital communication see the emerging acceptance of whimsical signifiers as inevitable, if not always desirable. \u201cThey\u2019re part of the degradation of writing skills \u2014 grammar, syntax, sentence structure, even penmanship \u2014 that come with digital technology,\u201d said Bill Lancaster<\/a>, a lecturer in communications at Northeastern University in Boston. \u201cCertainly I understand the need for clarity. But language, used properly, is clear on its own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s no surprise, then, that writers and teachers of writing are among the last emoticon holdouts. \u201cI am deeply offended by them,\u201d said Maria McErlane, a British journalist, actress and radio personality on BBC Radio 2. \u201cIf anybody on Facebook sends me a message with a little smiley-frowny face or a little sunshine with glasses on them, I will de-friend them. I also de-friend for OMG and LOL. They get no second chance. I find it lazy. Are your words not enough? To use a little picture with sunglasses on it to let you know how you\u2019re feeling is beyond ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now there\u2019s a cheery Brit for you. \ud83d\ude21<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry. I don\u2019t have any plans to start filling my blogs with little faces. Still, I find all of this quite fascinating. \ud83d\ude2f<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of months ago, a business associate of mine ended a text message to me with a funny emoticon (AKA smiley). As it turns out, he had intended to send it to his daughter, but sent it to me accidentally. Well, that inspired me, so, with considerable help from Google, I discovered how to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9565,8681],"tags":[16586,16587],"class_list":["post-2045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cultural-commentary","category-a-bit-of-fun","tag-emoticons","tag-smileys"],"yoast_head":"\nI Am Such a Trend-Setter!! :) LOL OMG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A couple of months ago, a business associate of mine ended a text message to me with a funny emoticon (AKA smiley). 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