- Emoticons.
Meaning: You want to bring the conversation to life.
Texting is a faceless, emotionless means of communication. So no matter how middle school-ish they are, emoticons can be the best way to make your texts feel 3-D (and not crappy, retrofitted 3-D like they're using in movies to add to the ticket prices. Good 3-D).
For women, use them carefully. Too many and you look immature. I had a friend who was texting with a girl and every single message she sent contained the winky face. It's like she was outsourcing her texting to a seventh grader. (Or that her emoticon had some kind of palsy.)
And if you're male ... steer very clear. Any ratio higher than one emoticon per one hundred texts is pure poison.
- Ellipses.
Meaning: You want the person to read between the lines.
Using ellipses in a text is your way of saying what you either can't say yet (because it'd fall under the "too soon" umbrella), or what you are afraid to say (because you're afraid you'll seem disagreeable or high maintenance). Check out this example:
Yeah, Kickboxer 4 could work ... I've also heard good things about that Katherine Heigl movie Falling in Love Is Neat* ... either way, meet you there at 8?*
It's clear what that text really means: "I'd rather die than see a movie about the underground world of kickboxing, and you're an idiot for suggesting that we go see it. I'd rather see a romantic comedy. And now, because this has gotten a little awkward, I think we should meet at the theater so I have an escape plan."
You can also use ellipses in a positive way, to get the person's imagination going:
Had maybe a few too many drinks last night ... legs are sore from dancing ... in the bathtub right now ...
That text takes three statements and just loads them with sexual undertones thanks to the ellipses. (Unless a guy sent that text. Then it's just kind of odd.)
- Question Marks.
Meaning: It depends on how many question marks you use.
Question marks have a tendency to stack onto each other. And with each stack the meaning changes.
What time do you want to meet up? Simple, unassuming, and friendly. Gets the point across, elicits a response, but also drives toward a solution.
What time do you want to meet up?? Looks like a typo.
What time do you want to meet up??? Feels impatient, childish. It's an aggressive question: It demands a response, and suggests that the response had better be to your liking.
What time do you want to meet up???? Cycles back to playful. Now it's a joke. If you (God forbid) talked to the person on the phone, you might sing-say that entire question.
What time do you want to meet up????? Too many. Now it's just confusing. Why were five question marks necessary? This seems like the kind of person who would write "kewl."
So ... use one question mark to just move the conversation along, and four to move it along flirtatiously. Anything else and you're doing it wrong.
- Tilde.
Meaning: You're either a punctuation master not confined to the traditional system ... or you're Hispanic.
Either way, you sound like a catch to me.
See Also:- 3 Smart Things About Online Dating
