Nuance and emoticon
Apr. 4th, 2002 06:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gurdonarkIsn't it funny how much we must compensate for the lack of vocal nuance and facial expression on line? I find myself
using superlative adjectives such as "great", "awful", and
"wonderful" in profusion, and punctuating with exclamation marks more customary to things I might write in 4th grade.
I think this is a compensation for the lack of the ability to give emphasis effectively on line. I use them, but I find the smile and grin emoticons particularly feeble.
I do like the use of asterisks to *emphasize* a word, as if this say "this word matters". Sometimes, I find myself
using twin near-synonyms to make up for what vocal inflection might define/suggest. Overall, though, it's very hard to concisely portray context in e mail or IM, particularly for those of us who use satire and sarcasm intermixed with genuine effusion of enthusiasm in everyday speech. I look back on my journal entry about the woman who writes an interesting journal, and see that I effused that hers was "wonderful stuff" and "dynamite". I'm sure that if I could speak so my hearers could hear, I'd have just said "quite interesting". This childlike enthusiasm
in writing style seems a bit gushy to me, but perhaps I should revel in recapturing the different kind of silliness of younger days.
using superlative adjectives such as "great", "awful", and
"wonderful" in profusion, and punctuating with exclamation marks more customary to things I might write in 4th grade.
I think this is a compensation for the lack of the ability to give emphasis effectively on line. I use them, but I find the smile and grin emoticons particularly feeble.
I do like the use of asterisks to *emphasize* a word, as if this say "this word matters". Sometimes, I find myself
using twin near-synonyms to make up for what vocal inflection might define/suggest. Overall, though, it's very hard to concisely portray context in e mail or IM, particularly for those of us who use satire and sarcasm intermixed with genuine effusion of enthusiasm in everyday speech. I look back on my journal entry about the woman who writes an interesting journal, and see that I effused that hers was "wonderful stuff" and "dynamite". I'm sure that if I could speak so my hearers could hear, I'd have just said "quite interesting". This childlike enthusiasm
in writing style seems a bit gushy to me, but perhaps I should revel in recapturing the different kind of silliness of younger days.
