Emoticontent...

Okay, so I have to confess I ahve begun to use emoticons in the last year. Usually this one:
;)


Why? Well, that little wink can help a girl out of a lot of tricky situations. I have found that in any situation where you're being jokey/silly/light, you run the risk of being taken seriously via email. Sarcasm does NOT easily translate. So you can add one of these:
;)


And rest assured that nobody will miss your intention.


But today I found myself thinking about how abused this emoticon is. How ubiquitous. I found myself thinking about how automatic it has become for me to add it to an email. It wouldn't be impossible for me to tack it onto something without realizing...


And then I found myself thinking about how there are sentences this emoticon (we'll call him Winky) should not follow.


For instance:


Hey Mom. I just found out I have throat cancer.
;)


I don't love you anymore.
;)


It looks like there's a one in three chance your baby has spina bifida.
;)


You're fired.
;)


I went ahead with the abortion.
;)


And so on.


I know this sounds insane, but we live in a world where people break up over text message. Crazy, yo.
:)