In an electronic text communication media, much of the facial and vocal expression are not immediately obvious. The way you say “You sux” with the appropriate facial expression could be meaning apart.

It is not surprising that people dont communicate as well as they think on email. And if you do click on the link, you can see what I mean when I say academics like to turn a simple answer “No” into 12 page paper with over 100 citations. :-)

It is also not surprising that emoticons like “:-) and :-P” is not just fun little things teenagers and kids do but also serve to cover the emotion/expression gaps in the email communications.

That it also helps to prevent misunderstanding is perhaps something we should encourage not just on personal emails but also in the office where people-to-people relationships are more fragile and more prone to misunderstandings. Such as when you send an email “You sux!” to a co-worker, he would not know if you are trying to insult him or just merely being playful without the “:-)” at the end.

It is time for management to embrace ^_^ and -_-; or when you are really angry >:O