If there's a situational pleasure greater than peacefully reading the Sunday New York Times in a cozy airplane seat on the way home from a heavy family vacation with your wife asleep and your daughter watching Winnie the Pooh on the DVD player, I have not yet found it.
Of course, a few sections in, I found something to get into high dudgeon about. An article about the evolution of emoticons said more than half of people over 30 surveyed by Yahoo! said they use these e-banalities every day. (I believe the people under 30 use emoticons every minute.)
That much is fine with me. E-mail is a cold medium (so we always hear) and misunderstandings that never happened in hand- or typewritten letters happen all the time on e-mail. Most people are not equipped with the writing ability--the writing ear--to convey warmth in words and sentence structure. So they resort to :).
But lately I've noticed that professional writers I correspond with are using emoticons in e-mails. Why? "In a perfect world, we would have time to compose e-mails that made it clear thorugh our language that we are being cheerful and friendly, but we're doing these things hundreds of times a day under pressure," suggested Will Schwalbe in the Times piece. He's the author of Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home.
I wonder if Schwalbe uses emoticons in his own correspondence. :(
I've used emoticons less than a dozen times in my entire life--usually in emergency situations when I truly do not have time to make my words convey my intended tone and when I have absolutely no respect for the intellect of the recipient.
To me, a writer who uses emoticons is like an artist who scrawls above his still-life, "Check out these apples and pears."
To writers who use emoticons in any but the most desperate situations, I ask: Have you no professional pride?
Comments (13)
No. I have no professional pride.
I use them in handwritten letters, too.
I have an acerbic wit that flies right over the heads of many people, so the emoticons help them to get that I'm not as bitter, depressed, sour, or whatever as they want to believe.
But I do see personal correspondence and chatter as different than professional writing.
Posted by Diane | July 30, 2007 9:10 AM
Posted on July 30, 2007 09:10
But wait, Diane. Are you saying you're more acerbic than Oscar Wilde, for instance? Or are you saying that if he lived today, Oscar Wilde would use emoticons too?
Posted by David Murray | July 30, 2007 9:46 AM
Posted on July 30, 2007 09:46
Oscar Wilde might say :-P
Posted by michael clendenin | July 30, 2007 11:29 AM
Posted on July 30, 2007 11:29
I would say I'm no Oscar Wilde, nor do I pretend to be. I would say that I'm definitely more acerbic without the wit or charm.
Posted by Diane | July 30, 2007 12:08 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 12:08
I just use smileys to confuse people and to hide my hideous wrath. For instance:
I'm mad. :)
This story is terrible. :)
You can take your leverage and shove it up your nose! :)
You smell like green fungus. :)
Isn't that better?
Posted by Chuck | July 30, 2007 2:18 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 14:18
Chuck, I love it! ;(
Posted by David Murray | July 30, 2007 2:46 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 14:46
I use them sometimes.
Maybe I'm just shooting off a smartass two-line note to a good friend; the emoticon is my facial expression.
Or maybe I'm writing something serious (but not deadly serious) to someone I either don't know well or someone I DO know well who has no literary "ear" ("eye"?); the emoticon after "Members who are late to this meeting will be shot" means, "Not really, you idiot, but DO try to be on time."
I don't see emoticons as the literary equivalent of child molestation. I see them as a tool I can use to get a quick point across when neither the future of the world nor my writerly satisfaction will be damaged by their use.
Not to beat a dead horse, but I hark back to the texting conversation of several weeks ago. I've had my eyes opened to texting recently. It's fast, silent, personal, and perfect for short, simple messages. Why NOT use it for that and save your big guns and Pulitzer-worthy talent for the important stuff? Emoticons strike me as the same kind of tool.
Posted by Jane Greer | July 30, 2007 3:10 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 15:10
Good point, Jane. I guess I reckon that using this kind of crutch sometimes will weaken me for all times.
Or, maybe more to the point, NOT using it--and forcing myself to get the tone right with words without buying it back with a smiley-face--will keep me strong.
When you've written a words-only e-mail criticizing someone's work just the right amount while letting them know you think they're swell (and without condescending), you've done something hard. And when writers do something hard, they get better--or at least, they stay sharp.
All that said, I remain open to the notion that in my blanket-refusal to use emoticons, I'm:
A. Being old-fashioned.
B. Being superstitious.
C. Both of the above.
Still, I can't see Calvin Trillin using them under any circumstances, can you? :)
Posted by David Murray | July 30, 2007 3:29 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 15:29
Like you, I would never use an emoticon in an "e-mail criticizing someone's work just the right amount while letting them know you think they're swell (and without condescending)." It's not the place.
Calvin Trillin? Maybe not. He didn't grow up with 'em. But there are some damn fine younger writers that use 'em, I bet, along with texting and whatever else they can use to chisel a few extra REAL writing moments out of a busy day. Your life may be very different from mine, but in mine, I have plenty of hard things to do with (and without) words every day; if I can take care of something simple without overworking it, I consider it a blessing.
I enjoy your curmudgeonliness, David, but I think we all commit much worse transgressions with our words than to use smileys on occasion. ;-)
Posted by Jane Greer | July 30, 2007 3:47 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 15:47
"I think we all commit much worse transgressions with our words than to use smileys on occasion."
Oh, no doubt. Just because it's the latest blog entry doesn't mean it's the most important.
Posted by David Murray | July 30, 2007 3:58 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 15:58
I was so pleased to see this blog post -- and the spirited but very civil debate on one of my favorite topics. As for the wondering...yes, I do use emoticons from time to time. Well, quite a lot actually. But only when I'm emailing (or texting) friends and close colleagues, and only when those people reply in kind. If I'm emoticon-ing and my correspondent isn't, I take that to mean she (or he) is not amused. Then I stop.
Basically, I agree completely with Jane Greer's qualified defense of the things. I'm not very proud of using them, but I find them useful and fun.
Posted by Will Schwalbe | July 30, 2007 5:49 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 17:49
:) 'Nuff said.
Posted by Kathy Schmidt | July 31, 2007 7:49 PM
Posted on July 31, 2007 19:49
P.S. David, love your work. I have you highlighted on my own blahg as a "link of note."
Posted by Kathy Schmidt | July 31, 2007 7:52 PM
Posted on July 31, 2007 19:52