Re: Nomination (mind your words!) Message #23 Posted by Howard Owen on 3 Feb 2007, 7:37 p.m., in response to message #21 by Walter B
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While the anonymous response still carries some humour IMO, though anonymous, my immediate impression reading your reaction was that the foot belonged to another person than the mouth! So much about pictures and their connotations!
Ah yes. I see. No, I wasn't suggesting anyone get "kicked in the teeth." (Another idiom, alas. 8)
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The use of ironic or "tongue in cheek" expressions in such a worldwide forum requires a very solid common culture, or a signal like ;-) or it shall be checked carefully.
Oh, you didn't get my smiley? I use "8)" most of the time to indicate humor, and I did so in the parent post. Unfortunately, "emoticons" like that are even less standardized than English, having only been in existence for 25 years or so. The first smiley I ever saw was "8-)", closely followed by the one you present, the "winking" smiley, ";-)". But there are hundreds of variations, of course. I've always preferred "8)" because I'm lazy. It saves me one character per grin when typing!
Happily, we get to build that "very solid common culture" ourselves. It can be a trial, but just as often a delight. I'll try to be clearer in my expressions, but not at the expense of the economy required by humor. 8)
Regards, Howard
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