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Messages in jest.


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Over the past, I have posted replies in jest. 

Some people have taken these replies as a serious comment, which is understandable.

For an example

OP "How do I get finance for my boat?"

Me " Rob a bank"

Is there any way the forum could produce/suggest an Emoticon that could be placed after the message to show it is a joke reply?

 

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1 hour ago, Laurie.Booth said:

Over the past, I have posted replies in jest. 

Some people have taken these replies as a serious comment, which is understandable.

For an example

OP "How do I get finance for my boat?"

Me " Rob a bank"

Is there any way the forum could produce/suggest an Emoticon that could be placed after the message to show it is a joke reply?

 

An Emoticon isn't necessary; why not use the old fashioned smiley :-)  If people still take you seriously at least you have made a gesture to their sensitivity.

 

Howard

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1 minute ago, howardang said:

An Emoticon isn't necessary; why not use the old fashioned smiley :-)  If people still take you seriously at least you have made a gesture to their sensitivity.

 

Howard

If you miss out the hyphen the software actually makes it a smiley thus: :)

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In spoken conversation it is easy to convey when you are being ironic, sarcastic, humorous or are expressing a little 'conceit' (in the sense of a shared miscomprehension); but in instant media it is not.  I have often been embarrassed by my own posts when I read them later.  It is oh so easy to write something that means one thing but can be interpreted completely differently by your reader.

Wit is defined as a piece of conversation or speech that flatters your listener's intelligence.  It's all too easy to be misunderstood on a forum when you are 'tongue in cheek'.  This is why emoticons are so useful.

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When I went to school I learnt "The English Language" as a class in school. In addition to the spoken word, we learnt how to convey things using the written word. We didn't learn the various emoticons, though. So its possible by using emoticons, that you'll be misunderstood. No such misunderstanding should occur if you use the English language properly too.

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1 hour ago, Paul C said:

When I went to school I learnt "The English Language" as a class in school. In addition to the spoken word, we learnt how to convey things using the written word. We didn't learn the various emoticons, though. So its possible by using emoticons, that you'll be misunderstood. No such misunderstanding should occur if you use the English language properly too.

 
 

Does this mean that you are a non-native speaker?  Most people acquire their mother tongue, it is not taught,  I can not detect your intended tone.

Edited by mross
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10 minutes ago, mross said:

  Most people acquire their mother tongue, it is not taught,  

First statement is correct, second of course is not (as you know). I don't think that my Dad wasted the 30 years which he spent as an English teacher.

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No, my understanding of English was not taught to me.  It came from listening and lots of reading.  My teachers taught me how to parse sentences and how to dissect language.  One can speak perfect English without ever knowing the rules.

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7 minutes ago, mross said:

No, my understanding of English was not taught to me.  It came from listening and lots of reading.  My teachers taught me how to parse sentences and how to dissect language.  One can speak perfect English without ever knowing the rules.

Tee-hee. Well done for adhering to the topic title.

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7 minutes ago, mross said:

No, my understanding of English was not taught to me.  It came from listening and lots of reading.  My teachers taught me how to parse sentences and how to dissect language.  One can speak perfect English without ever knowing the rules.

Then your teachers did a terrible job. Putting aside the indolent, the average 18 year old's level of English upon leaving school is markedly better than the average 4 year old's when they first start. Of course, many subjects are learnt (or even self-taught/self-learned) outside of the school environment, but school still plays a significant role in refining that knowledge.

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1 minute ago, Paul C said:

the average 18 year old's level of English upon leaving school is markedly better than the average 4 year old's when they first start.

And do you claim that that proves that the improvement must have been brought about by the teaching of Lit & Lang in schools?

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4 hours ago, mross said:

No, my understanding of English was not taught to me.  It came from listening and lots of reading.  My teachers taught me how to parse sentences and how to dissect language.  One can speak perfect English without ever knowing the rules.

Maybe one can, or thinks he can, because he believes he is always right.

The question is, can two speak perfectly understood English to one another if they are from different cultural backgrounds?

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Linguists in any language should be descriptive, not prescriptive. I'm with mross on this one - one's mother tongue in its many varieties is learned from an early age by everyday experience.  The job of an English teacher (not a teacher of English as a foreign language) is to help one understand the structure of the spoken language and transfer that to a written form, not to teach everyone 'correct English', which would eliminate dialects and slang.  

Of course misunderstandings can occur, but they are not usually the result of 'incorrect' English, but differing perceptions. It would be very boring if we all knew exactly what each other meant.

Edited by Mac of Cygnet
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