Lab Contact . The boom in e-mail is reviving the traditional art of corresponding with the written word. But for most of us, having grown-up with the telephone, the etiquette of writing is a lost art. An e-mail message can sometimes confuse the reader because it does not contain audio or visual cues that may be important to understand what the sender intended to say. How we say something, the intonation, or the facial expression we use, can be key to comprehending what is said.
Words alone can mean entirely different things.
Without hearing or seeing a person, we are left to guess what may have been intended. Below is a sample of some commonly used smilies. There are many, many more. Your basic smiley. User just made a really biting sarcastic remark.