Abbreviation and Emoji Communications – do u totes <3 it?

So I am just going to get right to the point, I am mad on an abbreviation and even more so on an emoji. The day the emoji keyboard became visible, was a day communication (and life) totally changed for me. My abbreviations also know no bounds, I will happily abbreviate just about anything, I am Australian after all, but I also like doing it because it really riles people up.

When I first started to dabble in the online world of match making the way people communicated with you was super important, it was all so new to most people that hours were spent lamenting over responses to messages, carefully crafting and putting your best foot forward, for the girls I knew anyway…

The men, I soon learnt, were not so fussed on the old communication front, and I am going to be honest here if not a little generalised, often times appalling. I'm not speaking about the content of said communication, although sometimes that was well out of line, but the lack of grammar and frankly effort was often a complete sh*t show. I once got a message form someone saying "Yeah, gud, be Gr8 to c u' what the absolute F? Needless to say I was sceptical.

However, bad grammar and lack of effort, I think, are totally different issues to the use of an abbrev or a cheeky emoji. Emojis are sassy AF when they want to be, a good emoji combo and I am not referring to any involving the eggplant, peach, banana, sweat drops, pointing finger, A-OK hand symbol emoji combos, although they do have a time and a place, but a sweet message with a few well appropriated emojis are legend. For instance, the gud guy could have written, "It would be great to catch up and see you (smiley face, cocktail emoji, dinner and plate emoji)". Actually, just writing that put a smile on my dial.

Now I know haters gonna hate and emojis aren't for everyone, but before you go thinking emojis have ruined the written word or are lazy, I recently listened to a pod cast on Burnt Toast about how the emojis we have today came to be, and believe you me it's a world-wide and very complex phenomenon.

Two important things about emoji as communication, they are universal and know not of language barriers. A poo is a poo across the world a smiley face is a smiley face, a piece of bacon is a piece of bacon. There is no miscommunication with them, you could write basic words and a lot of emojis and presto you are having a convo. They are also cute and funny! I dare you not to laugh when someone sends an excellent or clever emoji sequence. Even when misappropriated, such as the fruit and vege innuendo, it's still cute and silly and if it is gross, it is often really funny and worth showing lots of people. So if you think emojis are bastardising human conversation, you're wrong.

Secondly, Burnt Toast taught me that actually getting new emojis added to the new keyboard is full on. Believe it or not, there is an emoji committee, kinda like the Hollywood Foreign Press but for tiny symbols. So for instance you decide, why don't they have a (insert object, thing here) and how can I get it, you actually have to write a business case of sorts with real data as to why more people, like a lot more, than you will use that emoji. That proposal is then sent to this committee of techie heroes in my personal opinion, who then decide which will be created and appear in the next iOS update or whatever other phones that are not Apple have.

Now, the emoji complexity does not just stop there, oh no, sometimes the emoji has the backing of an entire country, Spain for instance. You might have noticed that a 'paella' emoji started appearing in your food and bev section, really cute in a nice cast iron bowl, but the Spaniards were having none of it and petitioned the shiz out of this committee to change the image to represent more appropriate Paella ingredients, chicken, prawn etc. My point being, people care about and like to use emojis. Millions of people use them, so I urge you to open your keyboards and hearts to emoji use or at least think about how they can be a nice little icebreaker in a convo with a potential suitor *thinking face emoji, winky face emoji*

As for abbreviations, I will admit, my messages and grammar during online dating were all very proper albeit emoji laden. But don't think for a second that when I met someone in person that the totes, shiz, fo shos and other such words I commonly use were not high rotation.

Frankly, if you have a way of communicating, using funny adjectives for complimenting things, abbreviating, quirky sentence structure, don't ever change that for someone else. Those who know me and those who hang round me know that shiz is on high rotation and will openly admit that it rubs off on them. I'm not hurting anyone's feelings by using short words or bastardising English, it just is what it is and quite frankly, hasn't stopped me from doing shiz in life. I use them where appropriate at work and in the dating world, well, he put a ring on it, so can't complain! *girl throwing sassy one hand pose emoji*

My message to you is really just to be yourself and if this means emoji use or abbreviating words, then you go on with your bad self! If you do think this behaviour is silly. Try lighten up a little and use emoji for good and flirty conversations, humour me just once and give it a go.