BBC Learning English
The English We Speak
6 November 2012
Emoticon
The English We Speak
© British Broadcasting Corporation 2012
Page 1 of 2
bbclearningenglish.com
(Vera bursts into the studio – she is not happy – sound of door opening abruptly)
Rob:
What’s happened Vera? You don’t look very happy.
Vera:
Of course I’m not happy. I’ve just read the email you sent saying if I don’t
come to the studio soon you are going to present the programme by
yourself…
Rob:
That’s right.
Vera:
And then you wrote: “With my beautiful voice, nobody will miss yours.”
That’s a horrible thing to say, Rob!
Rob: Well, it would be horrible if it was a serious message. But haven’t you
noticed my emoticon at the end of the message?
Vera:
Emoticon? I have the message printed out here… Yes, I can see here in the
email that you typed a colon, followed by a hyphen and a closing bracket.
And when I look at it sideways I can see… a smiley face… :-)
It’s an emoticon! It was a joke after all!
Rob:
Yes. Emoticons were created precisely for this purpose, to avoid
misunderstandings like the one we’ve just had. I wrote my message as a
joke and you took it seriously.
Vera:
I read recently that emoticons were created 30 years ago by a professor at
Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Emoticon is a combination of the
words 'emotional' and 'icon'.
Rob:
And indicates if a message is serious or a joke. When you speak, you can
express if you're serious about what you are saying but sometimes it is
difficult to achieve that on paper. Listen to some verbal examples.
Examples
(angry) “I don’t like going to the cinema with you. You always fall asleep and end up
snoring loudly.”
(jokingly) “I don’t like going to the cinema with you. You always fall asleep and end up
snoring loudly!”
Vera:
When you say something, you can convey the spirit with the tone of your
voice. But sometimes it is not clear when it is written.
