When we converse on the net, our recipients lose a lot of context: They can't hear one's tone of voice or inflection, they can't see one's facial expressions or body language... So one way or another we have to make up for this, be it with shortcuts like imho or rofl, or with emotes :Y :J :P. Now that I'm done stating the obvious... I've noticed that even the basic stuff, like :D and :P, mean something different to each person. Which makes me wonder: Which emotes, shortcuts, and other little textspeak are you most fond of, and what do they convey for you? What do you mean when you say 'lol' or 'o_o'? Few samples in the spoiler. Spoiler: Nova's Internet Language :L Decided to start with the one most people ask me about. Yes, the great mystery... First off, the 'L' is the corner of an absurdly-stretched, smiling mouth, if anyone was confused at that point. This is used in a generalized light-hearted context, such as when joking or when mildly amused by someone. It may also be used as a way to embrace my own dorkiness, e.g. when I follow a terrible, terrible pun with :L That's what it's supposed to mean, but I also tend to use it as filler when I'm not sure what to say or in a sort of "Aha I see" way when someone tells me something. :E Think of a dog baring its fangs. This can be used in silly contexts as well as serious, but usually it means I'm edging from one side to the other. So if it was a joke before, something might've set me off; whereas if it comes off the end of an argument, it might be a sign of me calming down. Usually I'll say something innocuous like "Yeah yeah watch it :E" if it's in good fun. rofl/pff 'Pff' being onomatopoeia rather than an abbreviation. I have an oddly specific use for these two. Usually they happen when I didn't laugh aloud but I thought to myself "That's good. That's REALLY good," or a joke caught me off-guard with how funny it was. It's a laugh of surprise, in other words. 'Pff' is also used more generally as my form of 'lol' since it seems more organic to me.
With me, my internet speak is a bit hard to explain. For one thing, I've used smileys to the extent where if I don't end a message with a :) or an XD face, I get people asking me if I'm okay. O.O (while that one meant "weird, right?") And to me, the XD is sort of my "I'm just teasing you" face, though it also can mean a sort of bitter laughter, sometimes indicative of sarcasm. You know me, I'm just the smartest person around. XD I also do this weird thing where I'll switch my style of speaking to reflect certain moods. Like, if I'm a bit embarrassed for some reason, I'll switch into third person. Marushi feels silly admitting this, but it's true. And in the past, I've also switched into an over complicated manner of speaking when attempting to explain behavior or actions of which I am embarrassed. In fact, I appear to be doing so right now. It's not too over complicated, but it's still a rather strange way for me to speak, especially when I am online. And finally, I've recently noticed an increase in my usage of words like "totes," "obvi," and "dif." And I even caught myself saying B-T-Dubs aloud a few days ago. O.O It was ridiculous. I blame too much Adventure Time. And the fact that I still use an old flip-phone that doesn't even have iTap on it, so I have to individually type out every letter. Abbreviations make things totes easier. XD So that's a bit of Marushi's internet (and text) speech. XD
Internet speak. 4 me just use gud gramer and your tone and voice can positively be expressed in a perceptibly amicable fashion. Still, I use emoticons freely to further my expression of tone in more public conversations. On Skype, I use emoticons, but on KHV, I rarely use them at all. Which emoticons do I prefer? Code: :p Coy, funny and insinuates my phrase is tongue-in-cheek; maybe sarcastic :c It's a more expressive frown than the commonplace ":(" I think. It just seems so much more pathetic, and that's the expression I feel displays Sadness more effectively. It comes with apologies or to show someone has honestly damaged me emotionally. :D It's a dumb look of absolute glee. It's funny. xD Probably my favorite, because I love to laugh, and laugh well. Reminiscent of a South Park-esque expression, it just looks funny. All the same, when I get a new texting buddy, it's always preferable they are CAPABLE of typing in full sentences with limited use of expressive punctions and emoticons. I never could understand this one, and I'll never be able to see it another way: Code: :)) I have a double-chin, and I am happy at the same time. I am not extra happy as I guess many want to believe I am. I am just pleasantly plump and pleased. Ho! Ho! Ho! I am so jolly and rotund.
I always use emotes to convey my emotions or just to make my post seem less serious, I get scared that it will be misinterpreted and I don't want that at all. I tend to use quite a few, and it probably gets quite bad and I need to use less but it's a bit of an addiction xD So the ones I most commonly use: xD Means laughter or general jovial/happy feelings, it's all in the context really. Like above I used it making a joke at myself so it doesn't seem I am being super serious. : D Again, just a happy emote that I use to convey happiness c: I love this one because it's less common but it does pretty much the same thing just to make what I am saying seem less harsh. :3 I don't even know exactly what this face is, I think it's supposed to be a cat but it just does the same sort of thing... yeah, these all seem to just show my jovial nature. I use this one more in light hearted sentences. 0.o This is just to show that I am either shocked or stunned or it's just a general "WTF?" face. Again, it depends on the context.
Unfortunately I'm perhaps way too addicted to posting emotions frequently. This is due to both a bad habit being formed, and as DeenieWeenie has mentioned, don't want to be misinterpreted as being mean or emotionless when I'm typing (someone once told me if I didn't use emoticons in a text, that I was being emotionless D: ) D: The common one. It's the "oh no" face of my collection of emoticons. Pretty much explanatory as to when and how I use it! uwu This has been a habit emoticon developed from my best friend, who's always happy and sometimes coy about things. It's kind of replaced the :3 face because it just seems more like a content expression. ;A;, ;n;, o͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡╮(;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)╭o͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡ or oAo Either shock sobbing or too shocked to keep mouth shut. It's a overly dramatic form of showing others when shocking things have been said or done to others. ;A; Is more commonly used for unfortunate circumstances mentioned. ऀืົཽ≀ ͔ ͕̮ ऀืົཽ✧॰ This icon I feel deserves some more usage time. I have used it a number of times before to detract from unfabulous situations and it has worked. I use it mostly just for giggles and fabulous max though. ⚈້͡ ໋͈ ૈ ˌ̫̮ ⚈້͡ ໋͈ ૈ❤ This is yet another icon designed to show people in the cutest way that I like something. Like ultra weeaboo cute. ◟꒰⁺᾽ ऀืົཽ ˡ̼̮ ऀืົཽ⁺̥̥̥̥̥꒱◞ This icon is also rarely used but I wished I used it more. When I feel sad (and as a means of saying why) I would post this image. (*ﾟ#⚙͠ A ⚙͠)ﾉﾞor ( ☞三☞´ ՞ਊ՞)☞三☞ or ▂▅▇█▓▒░◉◞౪◟◉░▒▓█▇▅▂ For some reason, these gifs strike terror into my heart at night. The color pink makes it seem somewhat less scarier. However, when I am in an angry mood (but appear happy) this would be something that I would post.
I'm mostly straightforward. I tend not to use ambiguous symbols to express myself. I also don't text talk mostly because I never texted in my life. I usually have smilies in my posts because most of the time, my words seem stern and serious which I am not. I'm a very lax and cheerful person. I use smilies a lot to make my posts a bit less serious and stuff. Though sometimes I use smilies that could make someone scratch their head or two like :< - Similar to the :c or sad faces. Basically a pout or a sad face =3= - Kind of an annoyed face >_> - "Really?" kind of face usually aimed at a certain person :3 - Some see it as a cat or somethin. I just use it as a happy tone and stuff.
The only emotes I pretty much ever use are: :] or :{[ or ;] The second one is a mustache sad face of my own invention. If I could figure out a way to put mustaches on the other two without them looking sad, I would do it. Otherwise, I don't feel a need for many other emotes.
