This is topic Calling All Grammar Nazis in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Euripides (Member # 9315) on :
 
Metaphorical Nazis of course.

It occured to me that there is an area of modern language which is ungoverned by any rules of grammar; the usage of the smily.

It is an accepted convention of certain modes of digital communication (e.g. e-mail, phone messaging, in certain cases fora) that grammar is allowed to lapse. It it usually through those modes of communication that we have allowed smilies to creep into our language. Just as a reputable newspaper will use serif fonts and maintain a high ratio of text to photographs while a tabloid does the opposite, we generally keep distracting smilies outside of our serious blog posts, websites and public forum posts (especially on a forum like Hatrack, which is naturally text-heavy).

But perhaps there is a legitimate excuse for the use of our abominable animated friends in public discourse. A friendly smily can defuse a tense situation, letting someone know that a statement is intended as a joke, or generally send good vibes around a forum. A smily can economise on words , signal the end of an argument , or avoid the need for censorship .

Is all of this outweighed by the distracting nature of animated gifs peppered throughout otherwise sensible English paragraphs? Can we still take someone seriously if they use them?

Also, should they come after or before the punctuation of the phrase/sentence they are relevant to? Can you start a sentence with a smily? If a smily is to be a paragraph on its own, should it be indented?
 

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Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
 
Gah! I wrote this beautiful post almost entirely in smiley, and then it goes and tells me theres a "8 image limit". . Well, let that be a warning to anyone else with the same fun idea.

I am actually interested in this topic and hope there's some good discussion on it. Right now I'm going to though, so goodnight. .
 

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Posted by Euripides (Member # 9315) on :
 
bye for now

And here's another question: Under what kind of rare and extenuating circumstance can a person possibly be excused for using the following smilies?




 

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Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
 
Never and never.

We had a smilie thread a while back that was kind of fun (and here is where the anti-smilie brigade roll their eyes at me - non-pictorially, of course).

I can't find the one I mean. But I'm going to bump another one. Heh.
 

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Posted by Euripides (Member # 9315) on :
 
This was supposed to be a joke but if we can have a philosophical discussion about smilies, it might be interesting.

Maybe.

Marginally.

Personally I think that in a not-so-serious thread, and in a situation where your emotions are not clear, there's something to be said for that one happy smily which lets the other person know you meant know harm. Otherwise I tend not to use them. Unless I'm posting in a thread dedicated to smilies.

To me they contributes to the online pollution of flashing animated banner ads, idle AIM chatter, irrelevant jpgs and spam.
 

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Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
 
I think there is use for them - used sparingly.

And the less flashy jumpy neon they are the better.

But tastes differ.
 

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Posted by Jeesh (Member # 9163) on :
 

 

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Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Euripides:


And here's another question: Under what kind of rare and extenuating circumstance can a person possibly be excused for using the following smilies?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Uprooted:

quote:

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Originally posted by Euripides:


And here's another question: Under what kind of rare and extenuating circumstance can a person possibly be excused for using the following smilies?

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Births
Engagements
Marriages
Chemo completed or end of ordeal of similar weightiness
Graduations/passings of the bar
Desired jobs attained
etc.

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Really? I was thinking more like:

- Your country is victorious in a war of liberation and successfully declares its independence.
- You or your spouse give birth to quadruplets.
- Starvation in Africa is eliminated.
- Replacement energy sources for oil are discovered in Kansas.

quote:

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Originally posted by Uprooted:
There. Am I treating a flippant question with sufficient seriousness? And would a winking smiley be justified at the end of this paragraph?

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