07.26.08
About Smiley
A smiley or emoticon is commonly embedded in text communications to convey an emotion with a message. For example, if someone (sender) was joking with his friend (receiver) by saying “Stupid!”, the person receiving (receiver) the message may think that the sender is making a rude comment. However, if the sender delivers the same message with a “happy smiley” : ) following, the receiver would then understand the speaker was “smiling” - or joking, and not misinterpret his intent. Thus, in online conversation or e-chats, all of the signals of smiley or emoticons reflect the interlocutors’ attitude toward their message.