:-) is absolutely necessary for people with a dry wit. Otherwise, people take what you say the wrong way. Quite often, :-) isn't enough of a disclaimer anyway.
Many a flamewar could've been averted by judicious use of :-)
I also like :~), but seldom bother with it. You get extra points if you can close a parenthetical statement (like this :-).
Alas, instant messaging software is eating that last point. If I type "(blah blah :-)" it ends up being incorrectly closed due to the helpful software.
IM software that converts my smilies drives me batty. I always turn it off, but then I can't understand all those bastardizations that people are using these days like (K).
If the smiley is intended to convey the fact that, if speaking aloud, the speaker would be smiling while making the statement it’s easy - "(...blah blah :o).)". But if the smiley is intended to convey the fact that, if speaking aloud, the speaker would post-fix the statement with a smile I think you’re left with the syntactically correct, but visually displeasing “(...blah blah. :o))”.
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momijizukamori
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 08:07 pm (UTC)Many a flamewar could've been averted by judicious use of :-)
I also like :~), but seldom bother with it. You get extra points if you can close a parenthetical statement (like this :-).
no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 08:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 08:40 pm (UTC)Wait, yes I can. Approximately 23.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 08:55 pm (UTC)