Are You Out Of Your Mind?

I still remember when I got my first mobile phone. It wasn't a smartphone, of course. That was the era of SMS (Short Message Service). Written text has always been my forte. I may not be able to convey my emotions as effectively in person as I can through writing. When my fiancé and I started communicating through mobile, texting became my main channel. He was in a hostel, and we were long-distance couple. Being the impatient one, I couldn't wait for him to call, so I would leave him texts. His hostel had strict rules regarding possession of mobile phones, so he had hidden one and asked me not to call unless he called first. Even then, he discouraged me from calling. We loved like birds and fought like... well, I can't find an appropriate animal.

_{"The Emoji Movie" is an animated film released in 2017}

Anyways, this was an era without emojis, so misunderstandings were common. I was almost always misunderstood. Why? I mean, why only me?

At that time we only had basic emoticons like :-) and ;-) or maybe :D and it was really fun to use them.

New people ; Do you know what Emoticons are really

They are the early version of emojis, use of symbols to convey non-verbal communication that normally accompanies spoken words. When typing conversationally, we don't have the time or space to construct elaborate narratives to show sarcasm, aloofness, or joy. At their core, emoticons are pictorial representations of the facial expressions you'd make while saying the line you typed. They are an attempt to convey emotion through a simple icon. Emot(ion) + icon.

So yes, I started using these emoticons to avoid any misunderstandings. For example, if I wasn't too angry with him and just borderline manipulative, I would say: "You didn't call, did you?" plus this emoticon :-) and he would know that he had sinned but had been forgiven. But when I was really angry, I didn't have the right emoticon to represent it.

Then came a wave of using symbols and letters from keyboards of mobiles and laptops for somewhat refined emoticons, and we would ask friends to pass on every unique and interesting emoticon. Some people would generate these creatively. I would try making a cat this way: (^~^). I'm not sure about the purpose, though. Maybe I was trying to show that I was as moody as a cat or something. Those were the senseless days of silly romances.

And a bunny this way! Mastering the art of perfect combo of symbols just to say that he was cute like a bunny. Ugh, super cringy of me! But those were the days!

Our very beautiful and considerate SR @patjewell uses many emoticons in her comments. I like this one (•ิ‿•ิ) of hers a lot but somehow it doesn't formats correctly on the web version of my mobile. I deciphered it using chrome and that's why I have also included the picture of this emoticon.

On "non-smart mobiles" without the enter command, people would use many spaces and symbols to create stickers and gifs, similar to how I explained the generation of my cat and bunny emotions, and Patjewell's cute emoticons. I don't know if you can relate, but let me give you an example, something like this:

_{source: Pinterest}

And then came the era of emojis. Now, you have all those faces or smileys built into your devices, and you can find an emoji for almost every expression and emotion. It's taken communication to a whole new level. Don't believe me? Let me explain:

One phrase, many ways!

So here is one phrase, with so many different interpretations - thanks to the emoji language!

Are you out of your mind?

without any emojis

No, you would not want to hear it, sans any emojis, especially from your wife!

_{I learned the English word "sans" when I read a poem in my twelfth standard, La Belle Dame sans Merci, a poem written by John Keats. It tells the story of a knight who encounters a beautiful and mysterious woman in the countryside. The French title translates to "The Beautiful Lady Without (sans) Mercy" in English. Why do I still remember it? Well, a boy from our class wrote a summary that was tasked by the English teacher. Only, it was no summary but his own painful love story. And our teacher, well, she was also one sans any mercy. She dissected the summary of his love affairs in a way that I hadn't laughed so hard until that day. And that boy, well, he never spoke a word to me afterward. What could I do? It was hell funny I could have rolled out of my seat. LOL "laugh out loud" - this abbreviation also comes in handy along with emojis. Have you heard of ROFL? It means "rolling on the floor laughing." And the right emoji is this perhaps 🤣 🤣 🤣 multiplied by 3.}

Sorry for being off track, coming back to our phrase:

_{I am including a photo of my text and emojis combination, just in case your version doesn't support certain emojis}

Don't tell me that you didn't read each line with exact underlying emotion. Especially the last one:

Are you out of your f****** mind 🤬

Why am I blabbering all this? Because it just dawned upon me yesterday that while emojis can represent a hell of a lot of emotions and are being used creatively in so many areas. I even heard that medical professionals use these for quick communication, like for 💊 and so many other things, to save time in telecommunication—But one thing is indisputable: When you're having a serious conversation, you don't feel like using any emoji, not even this one. 😡

So yes, when I'm pissed at my husband and communicating with him, he gets no emojis whatsoever. It's a simple sentence like this:

Are you out of your mind?

As I have mentioned earlier in my text:

No, you would not want to hear it, sans any emojis, especially from your wife!

And he knows instantly the gravity of his offence!

In a nutshell, the significance of emojis cannot be underestimated nowadays. Even their absence in a text implies something. Don't agree? Well, then I might say: Are you out of your mind? 😉