# My professor used a :) in a email to the class **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924 "2010-08-29T23:03:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/1 "2010-08-29T23:03:39Z")
he is an old man ---
**Author:** ![Gil-Martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Gil-Martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gil-Martin)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/2 "2010-08-29T23:12:01Z")
When I taught, I would sometimes do that. Why not? My professors sometimes sent me emails containing such things. As long as it wasn’t a big bright red LOL scrawled at the bottom of an important paper, I was cool with it. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/3 "2010-08-29T23:12:20Z")
Jesus. You’re a tough case. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/4 "2010-08-29T23:17:42Z")
I use smilies in e-mails to my professors all the time, and I’ve used them in chat sessions. They’re handy ways to give an emotional cue in an otherwise informal written message. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/5 "2010-08-29T23:41:28Z")
I bet he’s 30. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/6 "2010-08-29T23:44:36Z")
**PSXer**? Wouldn’t surprise me. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/7 "2010-08-29T23:45:57Z")
I’m 20 and in college ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/8 "2010-08-29T23:58:21Z")
I meant your Prof! ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/9 "2010-08-30T01:12:41Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > he is an old man So? He is teaching whippersnappers like you. He presumably knows all about emoticons and knows that they are in common use. It’s not as though he is using them in a research paper. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/10 "2010-08-30T01:16:37Z")
PSXer: The only 20-year-old college student to be less with the times than his professors. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/11 "2010-08-30T01:17:15Z")
Sure, if someone were to use a smilie in a formal paper or something, they clearly deserve to be viciously beaten. In emails, though, I wouldn’t find it strange or objectionable (though I wouldn’t do it in an email to someone higher-ranking like a supervisor or professor until they did it first, just in case they thought it was weird or too casual). ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/12 "2010-08-30T01:24:15Z")
Show him your laser disc player. I bet he’ll be so impressed. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/13 "2010-08-30T01:30:59Z")
I talk about laserdiscs every chance I get but we don’t get much time in class for side conversations 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/14 "2010-08-30T02:10:17Z")
I taught a college class as an adjunct last spring. I used 'em. 🙂 And I’m practically 50. So there. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/15 "2010-08-30T02:12:56Z")
Did he use it correctly? The only time I find it odd is when it is not. One guy I know uses it as a sign off, even when he’s really mad about something. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/16 "2010-08-30T03:05:07Z")
Yeah, when the journals start featuring articles titled “D00d, +#!5 theory iz teh suXX0rz LOL XD” then we can start worrying. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/17 "2010-08-30T03:11:27Z")
Rather a happy face than an angry one, don’t you think? \>:O ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/18 "2010-08-30T03:22:57Z")
My advisor has two endowed professorships, three books, and lots of journal articles to his name. He uses the smilie with me sometimes. Really, what is the big deal? I thought \*I \*was weird about reading things into emails that weren’t there. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/19 "2010-08-30T03:26:32Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Show him your laser disc player. I bet he’ll be so impressed. Oh SNAP!!! I love you, **Diosa** – you are my hero. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924/20 "2010-08-30T03:31:27Z")
I think it’s weird. What does your friend think? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-professor-used-a-in-a-email-to-the-class/551924.md?page=2)