Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 3
Posts 1 - 3

Le point à la fin du SMS: un mauvais signe

(A period at the end of a text: a bad sign)

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Newspaper | Le Monde
Date | 5.1.2016
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | abbreviations, misunderstanding, punctuation, spelling, texting, word/writing
Summary | Texting is becoming very popular among younger people who will soon be getting their smartphone transplanted on their hand. The language of texting is "cool", does not necessarily follow traditional rules, uses phonetics and abbreviations. Moreover, to replace the tone of voice and other nonverbal cues that are lacking in writing, people use emoticons. Now, it seems that adding a period at the end of a text can lead to misunderstandings.
Image Description | Photograph of a businessman walking and looking at his phone
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

Die Frau, die ungewollt mit Emojis ein Haus mietete

(The woman who inadvertently rented a house with emojis)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 24.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, law, misunderstanding
Summary | The debate around whether emojis count as words or seriously meaningful content is very heated - not only in academics but also in law. The Oxford English dictionary only reheated that fire by choosing an emoji as word of the year. Multiple law cases have centered on misunderstandings around emoji use, most recently a case where a woman indicated interest in renting a house with emojis (flamenco dancer, dancer girls, squirrel, comet, a victory sign, and a bottle of Champagne). The house owner sued her for using misleading emojis after she decided not to rent the house after all.
Image Description | An image of a woman's hand holding a smartphone and picking out an emoji and a portrait of the Israely judge who worked on the emoji case.
Image Tags | emojis, female(s), hand(s), male(s), smartphone

To Text or Not to Text: A Dating Conundrum

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 28.1.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | misunderstanding, texting
Summary | A woman and a man meet, show interest in each other, and go on a date. After that they text for two months without ever seeing each other again face to face. The woman is upset that the man does not aske her out again but she cannot overcome traditional conventions about women not initiating a date. After two months she breaks up the non-relationship by saying that she does not need a penpal. Then the man invites her for dinner and they get married several years after.
Image Description | Illustration of a man and a woman with a giant smartphone separating them and the woman holding a chainsaw.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

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