Emoticons; the new Esperanto?

While being a great supporter of new ideas, Im also a staunch rejecter of something so ridiculous it cant even be used for parodying purposes, though that doesn't leave much (in my opinion).

I have been battling with Emoticons for sometime, unable to bring them into my normal lexicon as it doesnt fit with my normal tone and expression. I am impressed with people who have though and, more widely, been impressed with their adoption globally.

Which brings me to my question of the day; are Emoticons the new Esperanto? Obviously this isnt an analogy that reconciles completely in that Esperanto never really took off and Emoticons seem to be used just about bloody everywhere.

But the spirit of Esperanto is certainly prevalent; a language/method of communication that can be understood by all. The main problem is that you cant (obviously) use them in spoken conversation, rendering it to be the written form of sign language, though obviously easier to understand.

If this is to be the new language though, what will it mean going forward? Is it to be incorporated with further slang, meaning that 'dis is da shizzle, makes me :$' will become an acccepted and understood expression(1)?

Further still, will this simplified language make our interactions (and thereby, us) more simple, or will they develop and enable a more global understanding more easily?

If we are to use Esperanto as an example, its doubtful that this will happen and quite likely the Fascists will come after all users of Emoticons (Pakistans' ban on YouTube anyone?).

I suppose it will be the ability of Emoticons to survive will depend on how they can integrate with any new technologies and how easily they are adopted by new users.

Certainly, their adoption in the main could result in some strange conversations as my field-work (below) demonstrates:






Am I:
(1) Curious
(2) Sad
(3) Sitting on my keys
(4) Constipated














Am I:
(1) Happy
(2) Insane
(3) Scared of dentists
(4) Constipated













Am I:
(1) Sad
(2) Mentally unstable
(3) Constipated








(1) Apologies if my example is useless, Im no good at emoticons or modern slang.