luv u.
October 16, 2009Ran across this thought the other week. It makes me extremely disappointed that someone thinks calling on the phone is now as personal as physical contact. Ridiculous – so of course I had to read the rest of the article. And you know it’s going to be bad when this is the first thing you read:
Can you imagine what a different movie “Casablanca” would be if, instead of suavely growling, “Here’s looking at you, kid,” Rick instead texted Ilsa: 😉
The article itself is not extremely insightful as it’s just the personal opinion of a few girls, and everyone knows how much that can differ. But, of course, I need to put in my two cents.
Given how prevalent texting is I can’t comfortably say it shouldn’t factor into the dating scene. Even though that’s kind of what I think. I am understanding that it is much easier to text “let’s get dinner” than make the same kind of phone call, which will inevitably have small talk conversation included. It’s also much easier to say no through text. However, if text is your chosen mode of communication, make sure to make sure to use correct grammar and spelling. I can’t stand text abbreviations of any sort. I think it makes you sound like you’re 14 – or stupid.
Flirting is obviously just fine. This would probably get me in trouble though (and not just because I have a boyfriend). With text, it’s much harder to determine what’s a joke. And when you only have one sentence to work with, the difficulty gets multiplied. So pretty much any text I send that doesn’t seem to have a functional purpose – it’s a joke and completely non-serious. I have a feeling that experienced texters probably don’t have this black/white view.
While I don’t have a problem with emoticons in general, I do see them as more female. And in general, male or female, I am judging your use of them. I also think they’re very insufficient, which is why I can’t use them. I read something and make a face, and for the life of me, I’ve never been able to find an emoticon that captures the face I made. Even the basic smiley – if I just smiled enough to warrant emoticon use, it’s way more than just “:-)”. It’s probably even more than “:-D” too. So I think it’s easier not to use them.
And look at this, sexting has come up again. Personally, I don’t need naked pictures of anybody. I definitely do not need them coming to my phone. It will probably not increase your chances of me wanting to have dinner (or sex) with you. And I will definitely judge you.
The Inky Eagle 
I was with you until the last paragraph. Damn…I guess there are other fish in the sea (winky face emoticon goes here!)
With regards to emoticons – I feel like sometimes it’s the only way to convey context in the absence of tones in your voice. Saying I love my job 😀 and I love my job
seem quite different to me…
agreed, but usually you have more context that just one line. But I guess in terms of texting (and not email or chat) one-liners come out much more often and therefore the emoticon might be more useful
It’s not exactly on topic, but texting, e-mail, and IMs (the Internet in general, really) are the death of the English language. I sound like an old man, but young kids these days write like absolute morons.
Agreed. Not only do I hate the text-speak (people – vowels do exist!) and think that consciously deciding to write “u” instead of “you” takes more time, automatic word generation is awful. If I don’t realize I picked the wrong word, it’s terrible trying to figure out what word I meant to write. Thought I do think it’s fun to see what phrases I use a lot.
I think this applies here: http://soupsoup.tumblr.com/post/215760967
Best lolcat EVER!
Wow, that’s the only lolcat I’ve ever found funny.
[Dan] I knew you would, that’s why I made that comment.
Let’s get dinner 😉
-<-@
OK. First of all, I think emoticons have saved my butt quite a few times as the only way for someone to know I was messing around.
Second, I remember (and I’m not THAT old) when it was rude to break up with a girl over the phone. Now, in the article, it says to at least have the courtesy to call. Slowly I’m starting to believe the old fogeys that say we’re becoming more and more anti-social.
Your near-last line about not needing naked pictures coming to your phone reminds me of an episode of 30 Rock where Liz had some naked photos of herself on her phone. I guess because it’s minor compared to the other consequences (people passing the photos along, showing them to others on their own phone) most people don’t think of what’ll happen to all those photos if they lose their phone and the photos end up in completely malicious hands.