Please...less emoticons, not more....it's the curse of the electronic age & a dumming down of correct vocabulary.
Whilst I understand where you are coming from I beg to differ. The problem we have on forums is that generally people aren't writing a massive narrative through which they are able to adequately describe their emotional state or easily express sarcasm and innuendo. Most of which will be conveyed by body language and facial expressions in the real world.
It's a quick, snappy (most of the time) and often reactive or intuitive response or comment. As such meaning can get lost, as witnessed above. An emoticon/gif can very quickly convey the context in which the post is made, including the posters emotional feelings clearly and quickly, avoiding misunderstandings.
What's the expression about a picture and Words? I would suggest "An emoticon paints fifty words" as a modern alternative
Cheers, Andy
PS "dumbing"
