My husband does make me laugh sometimes. As most of you know he’s a bit of a Luddite, a person who fears technology, which I don’t mind as this means it keeps him off my PC and Twitter. Plus, he’s happy because he can watch whatever he likes on the telly. A few weeks ago, he was asking about all these squiggles that people leave at the end of text messages. It took me awhile to work out what he was on about. Oh, you mean smileys! ;-)
I have to admit when I started using Twitter a couple of years I didn’t know what they were either; but after a quick trip to Google I worked it out and now use them all the time I think they’re essential as so much can be taken in the wrong way.
As the lovely, kind, and animal loving Kathryn @crystaljigsaw will contest to, she made a comment on Twitter earlier in the week, which was completely taken out of context and quite frankly blew up, leaving her very distraught. I don’t think the use of smileys in this case would’ve helped but it does show how easily things can be taken the wrong way.
As 93% of communication is non-verbal (eye-movement, facial expression, hand-gestures) which isn’t possible with most forms of online communication excluding SKYPE of course, so, sometimes smileys are imperative as they allow you to set the tone of your message. They allow people to know you’re being sarcastic, happy or cheeky.
Here are a few of my favourites:
;-) Wink
:-) Happy
:-O Surprised
:-s Embarrassed
:-( Sad
:-p poking tongue out
:-/ Unsure
:-x Kiss
And I’ve seen some very clever ones?
@-]—– I couldn’t see it at first but it’s a rose!
I’m sure you have some better ones. Someone once sent me one of Harry Potter. It was genius. Do share.
And these were courtesty of @iaingilmour today! Too funny, and yes he is bonkers.
:-o==> man playing trombone
:-)8 boobs
(:-( trouble on Pancake Day
:-[ Dracula
8-O naked and just sat on leather chair
q:-( child with saucepan stuck on head
:-^# bird in nest
:-(~ sorry darling this hasn’t happened to me before
[:-)X= Fred Astaire (top hat and tails)
0 Melted Snowman
z:-) Harry Potter
:-[)> Frank Zappa
‘”:-( child with untreated headlice
:-D<=3 thank you darling for being patient with me
%-s cross eyed
]:-)> devil incarnate