Re: [Pen-l] What are these lists for?

[ravi <ravi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Jan 9, 2009, at 9:11 PM, Julio Huato wrote:
> ravi wrote:
>
> > I have always considered the avoidance of emoticons a strange sort of
> > social ineptitude or ignorance (perhaps driven by a fear of loss of
> > gravitas?). I am glad to see you have seen the light!
>
> My reasoning was a bit different.
>
> E-mail addresses required this new symbol @.  Modern math, logic, etc.
> continuously introduce new symbols, because they need them to denote
> new things.
>
> Emotions, on the other hand, have been around for a while.  And it
> seemed that traditional writing had managed well to communicate
> emotions without new symbols.  Why use them then?
>
> It's not that I have never used them, but I always felt it was sloppy.
> Or lazy.


IMHO, quite the contrary, the lack of them is often impolite. The  
reason (again IMHO) is because email threads are not the equivalent of  
formal theses or even written letters, but of fast moving  
conversations in a social setting. The exceptions are highly technical  
or focused lists -- which are themselves exceptions.

If I made a snarky comment to poke fun at a friend over drinks, I  
would make sure to accompany it with a broad smile or a wink to  
indicate that it is intended as good-natured ribbing (which is not to  
say that other devices employed in traditional writing, such as terms  
of endearment, are unavailable in this medium -- but can you imagine  
your average WASP using a term of endearment when he is barely able to  
put forth a smiley? ;-)). The absence of such a gesture is, to me, at  
best a sign of stuffiness.

There is the converse, of course: one can easily make disparaging  
remarks and tack on a smiley as an easy disclaimer.

	--ravi


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