> > It's a problem. I share your frustration with it
> > being misunderstood sometimes. Many people are
> > so bloody SERIOUS that they just can't "get"
> > someone who isn't, and who is laughing much of
> > the time. So you try to use emoticons to get
> > the point across, and it has the opposite effect,
> > and they get even more uptight. Go figure.
>
> No, Barry, it doesn't make anybody uptight,
> despite your fondest wishes. What it does is
> make *you* look phony.
>
> It's like a standup comic who laughs at his own
> jokes. The really funny comics are those who
> stay deadpan.
>
> If you can't get your humor across without smileys,
> it just wasn't very funny to begin with.
I agree in concept. But in practice, sometimes statements can be read
in different ways. Either as an insult, or as a funny barb. Some, I
notice, rarely get the latter, unless it is BROADCAST clearly. <hey
joke coming up> ... <ok that was a joke>.
One might argue it wasn't funny then. I disagree. Thats not always the
case. I find, often, When the "serious reader" reads the barb / satire
in a new light ("oh its a joke"), they do laugh. I have examples, I
have names. (and thats a funny sentence -- but without voice nuance,
many may read it as serious.) Without voice nuance, distinguishing
between multiple possible interpreations is a problem.
One thing mature readers can do, is, before going off on some pitta
rampage, is think "I am seeing this as an insult. I wonder if it can
be seen in another light". Sort of like the foreground / background
figures.
Why some are predisposed to first see everything as insults, well
thats another issue. It would probably take a good therapist to
unravel it.
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