Love and IM in Vietnam
December 2, 2008 on 10:02 am | In Fun Stuff | 13 Comments
I came across a story on CNET today by Dong Ngo, an editor that is spending a month in Vietnam. While there, he is writing about how technology has permeated their culture. In his latest post, “Looking for love in Vietnam: Don’t forget to : )”, Ngo discusses how integrated technology is with the dating scene.
“Love, or the lack thereof, is an ongoing global issue. I offer no solution, but if you want to look for the one here in Vietnam, a word of advice: learn to text and know your emoticons.”
Ngo confesses that while text messaging is a simple endeavour, he is intimidated by instant messaging. This is because a lot of the Yahoo! Messenger emoticons mean something different to the Vietnamese. “Though most Yahoo IM emoticons are designed to mean something that’s widely understood, there are some that are interpreted here entirely differently from what they are originally designed to mean.”
Here’s a quick look at how the Vietnamese have re-interpreted some of our emoticons:
“Time out!” in Vietnam is known as “I am going to hammer you on the head”.
“Talk to the hand” and “Bring it on” in Vietnam is often used for “bye bye”
“Not worthy” is used to mean “po’tay” which is a slang way of saying “You’re too much, I give up”
Hard to say whether these are due to cultural differences or in the case of talk to the hand and bring it on, ambiguous animations on our part.
Either way, it’s always interesting to see how our users put emoticons through their paces. To read Dong Ngo’s complete story, head over to CNET.com.
Are there emoticons you use in an unintended way? Let us know by leaving a comment here on the blog.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
I sometimes use a combination of
and
to express something like “Yeah, right!”, or o:-):-S >:) to express a hard choice. With some friends
is more like “High five!” than “Talk to the hand!”.
Some examples
Comment by MAD — December 2, 2008 #
=; is almost always used as Bye Bye in Iran. In fact I didn’t know it means Talk To the hand before reading this post
Comment by Milad — December 2, 2008 #
When somebody tells me Yahoo! cares and fixes problems rather than posting stupid stories, I usually respond with:
=; and :^O
Comment by Tommy — December 3, 2008 #
^:)^ can also mean — Bowing Down because you are too good.
Anyways, i don’t like the face of these smileys :
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Comment by Dude — December 4, 2008 #
Hello!. It’s nice.
I have a little problem. I have Windows Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 1 Build 6001. I have also Yahoo Messenger 9.0.0.2034 installed. All just work fine, but I have a little problem. I try to switch the look of IM window when I press Ctrl+Shift+0, but it seems doesn’t work at all. The another two combinations work fine. In Windows XP it’s ok, but in Vista I have only this problem. I love the old style of conversation instead of these two new styles.
Please correct this in the next release.
In rest, it’s ok. I agree with all features you improve for YM.
Greetings from Romania.
Comment by Cristian — December 5, 2008 #
haha thats true… i like the “po’tay.com” heheh
Comment by Ta — December 5, 2008 #
viet ppl interpret the emoticons according to how they look, that’s why
Comment by ruby — December 5, 2008 #
=; is almost always used as “Bye Bye” in Romania, too.
Comment by Cristian C — December 5, 2008 #
that was sooo funnyyyy!!!!! i couldn’t stop from laughing
it is tooooo much 4 me
Comment by Renesmee — December 6, 2008 #
i like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by brandon — December 11, 2008 #
Hi i want to meet a vietnam. I would like to meet a nice guy 23-27
Comment by Jessica — December 12, 2008 #
ok so i had this coleague at university who misinterpreted some of those smileys…
=; – Hello! &
– Listen Carefuly!
man what a mess
)
Comment by beaVeR — December 22, 2008 #
My girlfriend and I use the
which is normally considered to be the loser symbol, instead we use it to say I love you in our im’s.
Comment by dgress60 — January 26, 2009 #