(no subject)

[gothwalk]

There are a few posts coming up, most of them provoked by the furore around my post of yesterday. However, I want to make one or two things clear first.

If I put something in pseudo-html tags <example>like this</example>, I do not mean it seriously, anymore than I mean seriously something I say in HaXX0r 7alk. Think of it as me making silly faces as I speak, or dropping my voice to sonorous and obviously piss-taking tones.

In most cases, it's an indication of a thought that crossed my mind, that isn't serious, and that isn't being given serious consideration.

Comments

[loupblanc.livejournal.com]

You're just unconventionnal... Most people use smileys :)

[sismith42.livejournal.com]

lots of people use pseudo-html tags.

(Aka, all my friends are doing it...)

[microgirl.livejournal.com]

Ok, someone already said this, but it might be an idea to use smileys to indicate humour/facetiousness. It's not actually immediately apparent otherwise. Most pseudo-html tags are funny/tongue-in-cheek by default: as in, they're funny because it's the person sending themselves up. As in "Yes, I'm being pedantic" or "Yes, I'm whining". Thus, ... would be seen to mean "Yes, I'm being offensive" _and doing it anyway_! Y'see my point?

It's incredibly difficult to gauge someone's meaning etc purely from text, since all the other clues such as tone of voice or facial expression are absent. So we have to go just on words. Which means we have to be damn careful about choosing them, or using other ways of making our meaning clear. I know I get in a lot of trouble at times due to careless or ambiguous sentences that seem perfectly obvious to me :)