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Subject: Re: Language and the Internet ( 26 of 58 )
Posted by bubster

>A writer does not use emoticons in a book. A writer does
>not need these tools to express emotion. The words are
>available to use, but the offer is declined and a :) is
>used instead.

I think of it not so much as the equivalent of writing a book as writing dialogue for a play. In books you tend to write "dialogue" and "action": He shook his fist ineffectively at the sky, crying, 'You'll never catch me alive, Spartus!'
Even in the first person you tend to get voice and action: I got up in the morning and thought, 'What's it all about, Alfie?'.

But what's happening in posts on the net is dialogue.

I think it would be rare to find a (good) book of dialogue that didn't employ some sort of descriptive language to embellish the dialogue of the characters.

Emoticons and *whistling merrily as I go*-type comments are like the direction you find with dialogue in a script.

Having said that, they are merely one way to embellish what is being said. Really good use of words often needs no added extras.




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