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Date:      Thu, 13 Jun 2002 17:34:44 -0700
From:      Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com>
To:        Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@online.fr>
Cc:        Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>, Ryan Thompson <ryan@sasknow.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Who is this Charlie guy in /etc/passwd?
Message-ID:  <3D093A24.C90113D8@mindspring.com>
References:  <20020613080114.N506-100000@ren.sasknow.com> <4.3.2.7.2.20020612214125.02fa4dc0@localhost> <20020613080114.N506-100000@ren.sasknow.com> <20020613163826.A1543@lpt.ens.fr> <4.3.2.7.2.20020613140653.00d64340@localhost> <20020613223435.A23313@lpt.ens.fr>

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Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
> Brett Glass wrote:
> > Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
> > > Brett Glass wrote:
> > > > Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
> > > > > Brett Glass wrote:
> > > > > > Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
> > > > > > > Brett Glass wrote:
> > > > > > > > Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
> > > > > > > > > Brett Glass wrote:
> > > > > > > > > > Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
> > > > > > > > > > > Brett Glass wrote:
> > > > > > > > > > > > Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
> > > > > > > > > > > > > Brett Glass wrote:
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Brett Glass wrote:
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Rahul Siddharthan wrote:

[ ... ]

> You forget that written language existed for millennia before smileys
> became widespread.  Also, irony isn't the same thing as humour.  I
> think a smiley is particularly inappropriate for true irony or
> sarcasm, which is often meant to be cutting or insulting.  If it
> wasn't meant to be cutting, the writer should make sure it doesn't
> read that way in the first place, rather than tack on a smiley as an
> afterthought...

I tend to use smileys so that non-English speakers do not become
unnecessarily offended when humor was intended, but the subtlety
of the humor will not translate well, or even for native English
speakers, when the humor is above average complexity, e.g. as in
a triple or quadruple entendre, or when something like the right
justification of the written text is meant to convey some covert
message to the clever reader.

8-).

-- Terry

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