Admin woes...

Kinda rough on a first time user?? I hate smiley faces - most of the time they are just a "cover" that makes the writer think his insult is somehow ok. Imagine a guy in a bar telling you you're ugly, then he gives you a big, toothy smile. Just saying....

Greetings,
A new member? I think your response though terse was quite appropriate whereas HIS response was not. I would be confused with the meaning of "coupled" and "on top of" to mean addition as well.
Peter

Ummm....Not sure how I should take that...

I must be retarded because my engineer brain sees "Seventy-two coupled with 27" as two figures in tandem (coupled like rail cars) and get 7227

If I place "Seventy-two on top of 27" I get a weird fraction that equals 2.666 in decimal form, or a graphical display in which the corners are diagonally equivalent.

As a partially literate writer, I look for parallelism in terms. The word "coupled" is not a mathematical function and neither is "on top of."

If I were to really let my little mind wander I would link the terms "on top of" and "coupled with" and wonder if the offspring is mathematical or Freudian.

What was it intended to be?

When a guy in a bar told me I was an ugly SOB he had the ability to show a big smile so I'd know he's kidding with me. He's basically saying Hey Dude. You should (or maybe should not) here my friends and I ride each other. It's all good natured. On the net the closest thing we have to help convey the right tone is emoticons, LOL capitals, bold and italics. English is a difficult language. Most things can be taken at least two very different ways. It often requires clarification. That's all the smilie faces mean. It can be a sincere intent to make sure the reader takes his statement in the right context.

Still, in all, (and I guessed 99 as well)------what the heck does ninety nine suggest?

He's Jason Taylor (#99) of the Miami Dolphins?

I'd suspect heavy drug usage but the poster's spelling was good.

RER

Agree whole heartedly. At the risk of sounding "preachy", I think writers should take more time finding the right words to send their thoughts. English is a very rich language in that regard. My disaffection for smiley faces, in response to NYCAP, is that, not always, but all too often they will follow some "snappy" remark that purposefully can be interpreted in two ways. The use of these symbols seems to become more pronounced as the hour gets later - particularly Saturdays. I know these images have become acceptable, but I view them as clutter. I believe if you take the time to write what you mean, the recipient will get your true point 99 times out of a 100.

In business there is no place for emoticons, because there is no humor or much emotion in business correspondence. But casual communication such as most of what it is here brings personality and humor. It's more like conversation. Conversation requires a smile or wink or frown, etc. to convey the real meaning, especially when you consider senses of humor. A good example is our buddy Fish. When I look at what he posts in boat jokes I just don't get it most of the time. British humor. Those same jokes read by a countryman of his, or spoken to a buddy, probably has the guy rolling.

It's not the guy that asked the question or your answer that is the problem.
It's the medium we are using to communicate: emails etc

Had he called you, your voice would have given him some humanity and maybe that smiley face too!

It would have been a hell of of a story if it was Marmot's first time trying to join and he had come back at you with his take on your question, Holy Crap that would have been a fun exchange..."coupling and on top of"...should I put a smiley to that or an eek?

The guy might make an interesting member! Pity there isn't an icon for "let's order a beer and forget that"

Winter Summer

Sounds to me like an older gent's fantasy of connecting with young lust........

[note the excessive use of emoticons....]

Computers do lack a lot. I don't deal with facebook but, because I have a page, I'm continually getting "friend" requests for which I have a choice of 'accept' or 'ignore'. I recently got one from a guy I sued. I really wish they'd put a button for 'Are you freakin' kidding me? No freakin' way in hell'.

So let me try my hand at this emoticon stuff:

First one, "wish it were me connecting with that "booty"

Second one, "holy s***, suppose my wife reads this post"

... , "hold on, let me rethink this"

Third , " I'm back, I'm cool"

Fourth, "forget I wrote that"

Am I close?

Welcome to the net. You've arrived (although I think the 2nd is more 'Now that I got it, what do I do with it.'.

thank goodness

You got it...

A better interpretation than I could do myself!