All I'll tell you, Boris, is this: You really should have more
confidence in your ability to write in English. You do it very well --
much better than the vast majority of my American Facebook friends, in fact.
I don't see anything wrong with using the little devices you use for
emphasis, per se. That said, I do think they're unnecessary inasmuch as
you tend to write with plenty of clarity, and the only people who could
plausibly mistake your intent would be those who are inclined to do so
for their own personal reasons, and not due to any lack of clarity on
your part.
My only caution would be that, given the fact that you seem to be very
conscious of your English writing ability, you might want to try to use
them a little less often as they can tend to become a crutch. I used to
have a really bad habit of over-using exclamation points to convey a
sense of anything from enthusiasm to dismay to humorous intent. It
didn't dawn on me that I was doing it until I saw several different
pieces of my writing collected in one place. So, what may seem like
fairly moderate usage in isolation can really stand out collectively.
Again, this isn't meant as any sort of a criticism of your writing or
the basic mechanics of your English usage. But, just as a point of
English Composition 101, in order to become as good a writer as you seem
to want to be, I'd recommend that you use that sort of thing more
sparingly -- not so much as a way to avoid annoying others, but just as
a way of forcing yourself to concentrate more on the "show, don't tell"
aspects of good writing.
Just a thought offered entirely in good faith.
-- Walt
On 2/23/2011 3:01 AM, Boris Liberman wrote:
Hello there, PDML.
As Cotty recently teased/mocked me and as Larry pointed out off-list,
I am using things like /grin/, /smile/, /evil wink/ etc. I'd like to
take a step back and have a bit of discussion thereof.
You see, I find it useful and important to be able to attach some
minimal emotional context or extra-textual context to my messages.
Smileys (such as :-), ;-), 8-), etc) don't cut it IMO, as they are
cryptic and even not always interpreted in the same way by different
people.
OTOH, if I were to describe my emotional state directly in plain
words, that would be easier to read. In order to mark apart the actual
text and the extra-textual context, I use slashes. Why slashes?
Because in Thunderbird (and I thought it was standard, whereas I am
probably wrong) the following applies: _underline_, *bold*, /italics/.
Since _underline_ is for links and *bold* is for emphasis thus what
remains is /italics/ for emotions.
Now, question is - am I being abusive in this or is this whole idea
wrong from the start? Surely I can stop using any extra-textual mark
up whatsoever, but then I am afraid, the likelihood of being
misunderstood or misunderstanding the other person on my own will be
greater.
Have your say. You can be brutal and honest or you can even do it off
the list.
Boris
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