Is it appropriate to use emoticons in business emails? After all, you wouldn’t write a smiley face in a printed letter, right? Martha and Grant discuss the point at which you start using those little symbols in correspondence. Call it “The Rubicon on the Emoticon.” Judith Newman has more observations about emoticons in business correspondence in this New York Times piece. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Emoticons in Business”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
I was writing some business correspondence recently in email, and I made a comment that I thought was witty and charming. But then I caught myself just in case adding a little smiley face. But then I had to stop and think, wait, what am I doing? This is business correspondence. I would never, ever put a smiley face in a printed letter. What am I thinking?
And then, Grant, that’s when it hit me that in email correspondence, there’s a kind of boundary line. You know, there’s a point that you may or may not reach where you feel comfortable adding those little symbols in business correspondence. You might call that point the Rubicon of the emoticon, that point which you cross.
And there was actually an article in The New York Times about this recently by Judith Newman, and she was noting that many people are saying more and more emoticons are creeping into my business correspondence. Some people like it because it helps them communicate, and other people just say it just makes their skin crawl.
And, in fact, we put something on our Facebook page, and, boy, we heard from the skin crawlers more than anybody else. Yeah, most of the people on there said, absolutely not. Absolutely not. Don’t use that in correspondence with me.
Right. I can see a small reason for it. If you do have a personal relationship that, I mean, you might sign your emails, love, or, you know, what if you work for your father or, you know, partners with your sister or something.
Yeah, I don’t know. So there’s a gradation there between formality and informality, and some workplaces are incredibly informal, right?
Yeah, but I mean, if you’re writing somebody you want money from or—
Well, let the other person cross that Rubicon first.
I like that idea. As long as they’re not using them, you shouldn’t use them either.
It feels significant, you know, when you get a smiley face from somebody who never smiles in person, and all of a sudden there’s one in your email. It’s weird.
I do smile sometimes.
It’s weird. I remember your first smiley face you ever sent me, Grant. I thought our relationship had changed.
It’s true.
But I didn’t put you on the Christmas card.
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What do you think?
