It looks like it's sticking its tongue out! The permutations may be endless: What's this curvy thing for? It's a mouth, look! Hey, I think we're on to something. What's this dot-on-top-of-a-dot thing for? What earthly good is it? Well, if you look at it sideways, it could be a pair of eyes. Anyone interested in punctuation has a dual reason to feel aggrieved about smileys, because not only are they a paltry substitute for expressing oneself properly they are also designed by people who evidently thought the punctuation marks on the standard keyboard cried out for an ornamental function.

Just add the right emoticon to your email and everyone will know what self-expressive effect you thought you kind-of had in mind. And a smiley is, famously, this:įorget the idea of selecting the right words in the right order and channelling the reader's attention by means of artful pointing.

Emoticons are the proper name for smileys.

That's why they came up with the emoticon, too-the emoticon being the greatest (or most desperate, depending how you look at it) advance in punctuation since the question mark in the reign of Charlemagne. Which is why, of course, people use so many dashes and italics and capitals ('I AM joking!') to compensate. “Clicking on 'send' has its limitations as a system of subtle communication.

Shoots and leaves book