Smile! :-D

Within a few months, we started seeing the lists with dozens of "smilies": open-mouthed surprise, person wearing glasses, Abraham Lincoln, Santa Claus, the pope, and so on. Producing such clever compilations has become a serious hobby for some people. But only my two original smilies, plus the "winky" ;-) and the "noseless" variants seem to be in common use for actual communication. It's interesting to note that Microsoft and AOL now intercept these character strings and turn them into little pictures. Personally, I think this destroys the whimsical element of the original.   --Happy Birthday Smiley

From the first time I used an instant message service, I've always used smileys. I remember searching AOL's expressions menu for hours just to pick out the perfect smiley set that would identify me as me. I do get what the author is saying when he says that special smileys "destroy{s} the whimsical element of the original."

I rarely use some of the intricate smileys, such as :-0 or 8-) or :-$...some of them don't even make sense to me... I tend to stick with the traditional smiley and frowny-- :-) and :-(

As for some of my peers online, I feel like they can't even send me a simple "hey, how are you" without attatching a smiley or a sticking-out-tongue-face. I wonder if the article is right in saying that someday, even novels will have :-) attached to the end of sentences. I sure hope not :-(