I pepper my emails, wallposts, comments and so on with smileys and emoticons of one sort or the other, most usually a smiley, a really smily smiley, or a face poking its tongue out. As if my words aren’t going to get my tone across by themselves – as if I’m not competent enough with the English language to frame what I mean and how I feel in words alone. I don’t know whether this is because I’m so sarcastic the entire time that clearly no-one will understand when I’m not being serious, or whether I’m so terrified of my words being misinterpreted that I feel the need to grin manically throughout all these pieces of communication in a crazed, ‘please don’t hurt me’ manner, just in case I accidentally spark off some kind of Facebook/WordPress-based Third World War.
But yes, emoticons; they’re everywhere. And other than the odd novelty one, they’re all expressing one of a very limited number of basic emotions, corresponding roughly to the emotional gamut of an underdeveloped toddler, and not the range and nuance of feeling that you’d expect of early-twenties human beings. Happy, sad, confused, angry (perhaps) or embarassed. Sardonic, at a stretch, for those of us who grew up with MSN, and 
– what on earth is that meant to mean? This is something that’s always eluded me.
I feel I should object to this simplification of my emotional life into a small lexicon of heiroglyphs, but to be honest, I quite like them, scattergunned across the things I and my friends write to one another. Sometimes you do need to clarify that your tongue is firmly in your cheek ( 
), or that your head is absolutely utterly and definitely not in the gutter, perish the thought ( ():-) ), or that you’re being a lot more sceptical about something than your words would suggest (^o), for some reason). Just so long as your words do suggest something. And if your communication is reduced to a series of emoticons and *actions* maybe it’s time you discovered skype, picked up the phone, or if your’e in the same vicinity as someone, actually went out and spoke to them in person? I’m fairly sure your face is capable of more than just 
or 
– though I’m sorry, you won’t sprout a halo upon being knowingly naive.
Because, sometimes, just a smile is all you need to say. And when you haven’t got the face to express it sans speaking (as something ridiculous like 90% of what you say isn’t to do with the words you use) you need another form, and sometimes no amount of vocabulary, however complex, can convey the exact sentiment. Not that a smiley can, either. But it’s a start.
Or you could accept that occasionally, little pictures are able to play the same role as tone of voice, or such. You’re communicating without sound, so you need something to replace it. Turns out though, that you’re not really saying that many things, because people don’t. Don’t feel bad about it, because a little nudge in the right direction (one of four small pictures designed to help you conveniently express something that text isn’t ideal for) isn’t that much of a big deal.
I don’t think there’s anything specifically wrong with smiley faces – they’re just a cheap ‘n’ easy way of expressing how you feel without having to write a great deal. If you were talking to somebody in person they would, partly, gauge you by your expressions and whilst smiley faces are very cut-out (though you’d be surprised (?) just how many variations there now are) and can, purposely or not, convey the wrong meaning at times they do their job okay if used wisely. Of course, when people pepper their messages or writings with them they are being extremely lazy since they need to go hand-in-hand with the written word.
I would love to sprout a halo upon being knowingly naive!
I have a illogical hatred of the
smilie on msn. For some reason I assume that people are patronising me when they use it. I couldn’t tell you where this came from or why…
to mean indifference but I suppose it’s open to interpreation.
I always took
Darn it – this new keyboard refuses to let me spell things properly.
*interpretation.
@hannah: lol, I recall having a rantalot about the
elsewhere, which you may well remember. I tend to use 
instead as it feels less so, well, you know.
@Lucy: I have been known to trace a halo with my finger around my head, for the situations where it may be appropriate. I am cool.