Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

A worryingly good argument made in favour of emoticons

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I found myself in discussion with a friend who shares my enthusiasm for clarity in language, but who holds opposite opinions on what are and are not effective and acceptable ways to communicate.

I detest the creeping invasion of emoticons, those little smiling, or sad, or throwing-up, yellow faces that people scatter across texts and other forms of electronic message. I regard anyone who uses these things as lazy, a person lacking the ability to properly express themselves.

My opponent in this discussion holds a very different view. He believes that emoticons are extensions of punctuation, and that they are clever aids to clarify meaning. He claimed emoticons are useful in the same way that question marks or exclamation marks are useful. The game-set-and-match point in his argument, he believed, was that there is no punctuation mark to denote sarcasm. He claimed an emoticon showing a nudging elbow, or one that conveyed a very obvious depiction of a tongue in a cheek, was unmatched when expressing the acidity of a sarcastic comment.

This, I must admit, drew me up. He had a point. It can indeed be difficult to convey sarcasm in a short written message. This was an uncomfortable experience. Would I have to concede there might be a case for the view that pictures can get meaning across better than words?

Such an admission would have been a fell blow to a shibboleth I have clung to all my life – that the English language, with its oceanic vocabulary and flavoursome history of evocative quotes, is the best tool mankind has yet invented to explain the world and all that is in it.

But upon considering the matter, I believe I have an answer. Emoticons are only of use in very short messages. If you are attempting to communicate complex concepts then you need words. Try explaining Descartes’ proposition “I think, therefore I am” in yellow faces.

The emoticon isn’t really the enemy, enforced brevity is the enemy.

We have allowed our society to be hemmed in to constrained methods of communication. Tweets, Instagram posts, etc., have shepherded us into cages of limited character counts. Sometimes, you need to describe a situation, conduct an examination of your thought processes, and explain conclusions before inserting a sarcastic remark or making an ironic point. It is difficult to do that in 240 characters.

 


Word of the week

Shibboleth (noun)

A custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a class or group of people. EG: “Enjoyment of cups of tea is a shibboleth of mild-mannered folk.”


Read the latest Oh my word! every Saturday in The Courier. Contact me at sfinan@dctmedia.co.uk