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posted by Jason Kottke  ·  gift link

What makes people use different

What makes people use different smiley constructions? In the group of people with which I regularly correspond, the compact and faster-to-type “:)” is used, but “:-)” seems to be a popular choice for other folks. Is “:-)” Laurel to “:)“‘s Hardy? Does the nose serve a purpose that warrants the extra two keystrokes (shift-colon-right parenthesis versus shift-colon-dash-shift-right parenthesis)? Here’s a simpler question:

Which emoticonic style do you use?

:-)   (with nose)
:)   (without nose)
I don’t use emoticons.

Or you can view the results without voting.