I think Drunky Smurf is trying to turn this in to some sort of Brickroll about gay marriage and what definitions mean.
Yes, there is a ‘[noparse]:rolleyes:[/noparse]’ syntax that will be replaced by a picture. But the smiley that is drawn does not carry–does not even apporximate–the same meaning as the original rolleyes smiley.
Pictograms, images, convey meaning. Dramatically changing the image dramatically changes the meaning. If for some reason TPTB changed the original basic smiley image to a close-up of a chihuahua’s ass, would you we still say we had a smiley?
This change eviscerates that meaning, which has led to the loss of a long-standing, intrinsic part of Board culture, one with roots that extend back to the original columns.
No. Obviously Cecil didn’t use emoticons, but his language didn’t convey the rolling of eyes either. He wasn’t a gossip columnist and he didn’t write for Cosmopolitan.
Cecil does and did open his columns with a wisecrack, typically an insult directed at the letter writer. But most of its fury was directed at the fight against ignorance: I suspect the phrase, “Oh brother!” or other expression of exasperation were pretty rare.
Rolleyes is an internet development, guided by the early emoticon designers. Besides, change is part of this board as well. Otherwise we’d still be on AOL dialup.
Old Rolleyes constitutes and easy and lazy form of dismissal: it is a poor substitute for the thoughtful dissection of weak argument.
Old rolleys was basically just a snarky version of STFU that combined pseudosophisticated mockery and derision without any substance to back it up. Maybe it’s time to give it a rest and engage instead with a little less smugness and narcissism.
Ok, I just cribbed that language from Kevin Drum’s rant about the splaining meme. But I think it applies, albeit with less intensity. Had to share, sorry. :rolleyes: [sup]1[/sup]
[sup]1[/sup]No I don’t know what the new rolleyes conveys either.
Have you learned nothing from Cecil? The Straight Dope without smugness and narcissism would be My Weekly Reader! Um, with more articles about the caloric content of semen.
But does Cecil ever use smilies–rolling eyes or otherwise–in his columns? Not that I can recall. He conveys smugness, sarcasm, frustration, etc. with words. So can we. I do use smilies myself sometimes, but I admit that they are a lazy substitute for a full reply.
To the best of my recollection, I have used rolleyes once. It’s just not a sentiment that I feel to express often and then I would tend to use words.
That said, the green-faced snark was an indispensable part of the vernacular in this place and I will miss him. If I, who employ his services so infrequently miss him, how much more must others?
Also note that it’s far from limited to snark against a fellow poster. I assume a single rolleyes reply to a post in GD with nothing else would warrant at least a mod note (as would a snark that Measure for Measure would choose to write out). But other than that, they do get used (as do words) in intra-dope conversation all the time.
But they’re used a lot more than that. Here’s a random use from a recent thread:
Not the same communicative value. Unless he really did lick Wikipedia’s pie.
