> > From: Share Long > > > > BTW my smiley faces mean that I was joking > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Emily Reyn wrote: > > Yay! The meaning of the smiley face.
While I seriously doubt that you understood this meaning, I shall riff on it anyway, just for FUN. :-) The smiley face is an artifact of the early days of what we now know as the Internet. Back in those early days, for those who were not There Then, it was called Arpanet, and it was populated by people who were mainly programmers, and thus somewhat...uh...humor-deprived. Those who were...uh...somewhat *less* humor-deprived found that people were reacting Seriously to things they had said that were on the other side of the galaxy from anything they considered Serious, and sought a remedy for this perplexing problem. And thus was born the smiley face. The smiley face is a remedial educational device, designed to remind people who take themselves Far Too Seriously that not everyone shares their particular sense of humor or lack thereof. Its creator cites its creation as a fed-up reminder that, "Hey...I'm having FUN here...why aren't you?" The original smiley face paradigm was meant as a reminder that people may say things that make you completely uptight and that plunge you into a reactive state in which you get perturbed or angry or whatever and feel that you have to get All Serious On Their Asses in reply...uh...that you don't necessarily have to Be That Way. The original smiley face paradigm was supposed to be interpreted as an indication that the poster was having FUN while posting the things you found so objectionable, and that if you just Lightened The Fuck Up, you might be able to have FUN with them, too. Then, as now, it is often misinterpreted. The Lightened Up tend to use it anyway, as part of their compassionate Bodhisattva Vow-like quest to help others Lighten Up, too. Now you know. :-)
