Although I understand the four-leaf clover, I don’t speak social media or emoji — so would someone please provide a courtesy translation of ‘left-looking eyes’ as well as the other emojis in the above post?
Left-looking eyes has the connotation of averting one’s eyes to not meet another’s gaze, such as for instance when being caught at something one is embarassed about.
Also known as “shifty eyes” (in large part because the right facing >.> is about as common as the left facing, making it overly specific as to which version you’re using when you refer to it by its facing).
Here’s some possible usages:
“Sorry, hun. Forgot to pick up the groceries. >.>”
“You mean, who ate the cake in THAT fridge? Uhh… >.>”
“Looks like we’re in for some overtime. Yaaaaay. >.>” [Though :/ or crying emoji would work better there].
“I rushed to the exam yesterday. Found out today I’d goine to the wrong exam room. Whoops. >.>” [Though, frankly, you’d probably want a stronger emoji for that one.]
Simply put, it’s an “awkward situation” emoji. You’re indicating awkwardness, as you would when not meeting someone’s eyes in a normal conversation.
:/ for grimace or sympathetic frown [“Sorry to hear your dad missed your play.. again. :/”], :X for lips sealed [ie, “can’t really say anything more about that”, or: “They say the epidemic has escalated even further. :X”] and :S for .. wincing, I guess would be the way to phrase it? [“Oh, look. More homework :S” or “Sorry to hear that you’ll miss the school trip. :S”] are all somewhat similar emoji concepts [in that they all are meant to indicate an aversion to the topic in question].
Cabinderada
This changes things for me because half the time I read the “shifty eyes” emoji as “I’m looking at this REALLY HARD” or “Well, look at that…”
Like a sarcastic emphasis on ne’er-do-wells who follow through on being the garbage people that you expect them to be
HeySo
-_- is the exasperated/”no, really?” face- it seems best suited for you, among the more common emoji forms. That said, the one you’re specifically referring to would likely be (¬_¬) or variations thereof. Since it uses ascii characters, it’s one of the more irregular ones, but I think it does a good job of properly expressing the intended tone. 😛
Miles
I always interpreted shifty eyes only if at least one of each direction is used. Otherwise I assumed a pointed look.
I thought everyone was supposed to go to .png because someone claimed they owned .gif?
Needfuldoer
GIF is patent-encumbered, and only supports up to 256 colors per image file, but mainstream PNG doesn’t support animation. Even distributing short compressed video files hasn’t replaced it, because it’s just that ingrained in the Internet by this point. It’s been around since the late 80s, and just about everything supports it.
It’s also pronounced like “gift” but without the T.
Schol-R-LEA
Going from memory here, but…
GIF uses the LZW compression algorithm, which was patented but had spread through various magazine articles at a time when the patent holders weren’t defending the patent.
GIF was standardized in 1989 with the GIF89A definition, which added some things to it as well, including the capability to stack several GIF-compressed images into a single GIF file as a way of making the compression of several related pictures more efficient.
About a year later, some bright spark noted this, and figured that if you put a sequence of frames in order, and had an image viewer which could automatically render them one after another in that order with a 1/30 second delay, you would have a crude sort of video playback. Animated GIFs quickly became an easy way of sharing a short animated clip.
Unisys bought the patent in the 1990s and began trying to enforce it, so a group on USENET decided to create an alternative which wasn’t encumbered, leading to PNG. However, there were no animated PNGs at first, and the ubiquity of the format meant that the patent was basically unenforceable, and in any case expired around 2003, so GIF remains common to his day.
Miles
Those patents expired around 2005 or so. Gifs are fine now.
Droewyn
Peter Pan is superior to Jif in every way, and GIF is pronounced with a hard G.
I know finals have limited rescheduling potential because grades have a hard date they’re due by, but that’s not usually the case for midterms in my experience. That said, any rescheduling would require scheduling with the campus testing center (already packed at the moment,) and there is probably at least one Douchebag Professor whose stance is ‘hey, YOU’RE not dead or comatose, now are you?’
(I expect Alex and Leslie would both allow rescheduling no questions asked, assuming theirs haven’t occurred yet. The new TA for the math class might have to go through Dr. Rees, who may or may not be aware a kidnapping occurred for all we’ve seen of him, either way we don’t have a proper ping on them.)
Maybe he wanted to take the test. A bit of normalcy is how some people get through tough times. Just check out, go take the test, then come back after the mental break.
Ah yes, THERE’S the social anxiety/severe introversion again!
… And there’s the professor who refuses to let ‘I was kidnapped yesterday and one of my best friends is comatose’ be a reason for test postponement, because if they let someone reschedule for a reason as petty as kidnapping and threatened murder by a mobster, where do you draw the line, I ask you?
Which is to say, that’s the most realistic piece of fallout from the kidnapping we’ve seen yet! *Sobs*
Maybe Ethan had the option, and he’d already studied, and wanted a break from thinking about the kidnapping to just get the test done. Or maybe his professor is terrible.
That is entirely possible. Means one less thing to think about, as well.
I’ve just had enough shitty faculty members and heard enough horror stories that odds are at least one of them is on that level. (Then again, the one who said he only gave excused absences for active military deployment, police custody, and ER admission with proof of each was a law professor, so maybe we should expect that from Sarah’s faculty. I’m pretty sure I’d found the online section of the same class before we were through the syllabus, because that was one condescending first session.)
Droewyn
There was a computer science prof at Michigan State who was famous for his “If you can prove you were feeding the ducks at the time, you get an automatic 100% on his final” escape clause.
… but witnesses could lie, and photo/video evidence could be faked… etc. etc.
And then some student showed up to the final with two ducks (because “ducks”, plural), and spent the entire test time feeding them.
129 thoughts on “Muster”
Ana Chronistic
???????
Doctor_Who
Ethan: Alright, I’m off to my next test, wish me luck.
Amber: ?
Ethan: …That’s unnerving.
Amber: ??
Ethan: I haven’t heard any updates about Mike. Look, how many hours sleep did you get last night?
Amber: ?️♀️
Ethan: Maybe go get a couple more.
Bicycle Bill
Although I understand the four-leaf clover, I don’t speak social media or emoji — so would someone please provide a courtesy translation of ‘left-looking eyes’ as well as the other emojis in the above post?
Doctor_Who
? = Mic (Mike)
?️♀️ = Fore (Four)
Tan
Left-looking eyes has the connotation of averting one’s eyes to not meet another’s gaze, such as for instance when being caught at something one is embarassed about.
HeySo
Also known as “shifty eyes” (in large part because the right facing >.> is about as common as the left facing, making it overly specific as to which version you’re using when you refer to it by its facing).
Here’s some possible usages:
“Sorry, hun. Forgot to pick up the groceries. >.>”
“You mean, who ate the cake in THAT fridge? Uhh… >.>”
“Looks like we’re in for some overtime. Yaaaaay. >.>” [Though :/ or crying emoji would work better there].
“I rushed to the exam yesterday. Found out today I’d goine to the wrong exam room. Whoops. >.>” [Though, frankly, you’d probably want a stronger emoji for that one.]
Simply put, it’s an “awkward situation” emoji. You’re indicating awkwardness, as you would when not meeting someone’s eyes in a normal conversation.
:/ for grimace or sympathetic frown [“Sorry to hear your dad missed your play.. again. :/”], :X for lips sealed [ie, “can’t really say anything more about that”, or: “They say the epidemic has escalated even further. :X”] and :S for .. wincing, I guess would be the way to phrase it? [“Oh, look. More homework :S” or “Sorry to hear that you’ll miss the school trip. :S”] are all somewhat similar emoji concepts [in that they all are meant to indicate an aversion to the topic in question].
Cabinderada
This changes things for me because half the time I read the “shifty eyes” emoji as “I’m looking at this REALLY HARD” or “Well, look at that…”
Like a sarcastic emphasis on ne’er-do-wells who follow through on being the garbage people that you expect them to be
HeySo
-_- is the exasperated/”no, really?” face- it seems best suited for you, among the more common emoji forms. That said, the one you’re specifically referring to would likely be (¬_¬) or variations thereof. Since it uses ascii characters, it’s one of the more irregular ones, but I think it does a good job of properly expressing the intended tone. 😛
Miles
I always interpreted shifty eyes only if at least one of each direction is used. Otherwise I assumed a pointed look.
Hornet
Poop emoji.
Deanatay
DOWNVOTE
King Daniel
>_>
<_<
totes can't relate, nopesies
HeySo
>_>
<_’-‘)> <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'’-‘)> <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' – ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' – ')^
HeySo
Wow, that bugged hard. What’s the site’s escape character/command? I’ll fix it. 🙁
Miles
It’s usually a backslash. \\\\\\\\\\
or you can try \,, or/Miles
Nope, none of those worked. I put code tags around that whole second line and tried to escape things
didn't work.Chris
It could be worse. She could be speaking in hashtags.
Hornet
Don’t give her/Willis any ideas!
She just might!
Devin
Or gifs
Judas Peckerwood
Yer sayin’ it wrong.
Jon Rich
It’s “jifs,” right?
King Daniel
strange, I always pronounced it as “qev”
He Who Abides
No, it’s “gif”. The X is silent.
Needfuldoer
That’s multiple jars of peanut butter.
Graphics Interchange Format. GIF. Hard G.
I choose to die on this hill.
Felix
Word.
Victor
Choosy programmers choose GIF. Like the peanut butter commercial. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-xpm-2013-may-22-la-fi-tn-gif-creator-jif-peanut-butter-20130522-story.html
Slartibeast Button, BIA
I thought everyone was supposed to go to .png because someone claimed they owned .gif?
Needfuldoer
GIF is patent-encumbered, and only supports up to 256 colors per image file, but mainstream PNG doesn’t support animation. Even distributing short compressed video files hasn’t replaced it, because it’s just that ingrained in the Internet by this point. It’s been around since the late 80s, and just about everything supports it.
It’s also pronounced like “gift” but without the T.
Schol-R-LEA
Going from memory here, but…
GIF uses the LZW compression algorithm, which was patented but had spread through various magazine articles at a time when the patent holders weren’t defending the patent.
GIF was standardized in 1989 with the GIF89A definition, which added some things to it as well, including the capability to stack several GIF-compressed images into a single GIF file as a way of making the compression of several related pictures more efficient.
About a year later, some bright spark noted this, and figured that if you put a sequence of frames in order, and had an image viewer which could automatically render them one after another in that order with a 1/30 second delay, you would have a crude sort of video playback. Animated GIFs quickly became an easy way of sharing a short animated clip.
Unisys bought the patent in the 1990s and began trying to enforce it, so a group on USENET decided to create an alternative which wasn’t encumbered, leading to PNG. However, there were no animated PNGs at first, and the ubiquity of the format meant that the patent was basically unenforceable, and in any case expired around 2003, so GIF remains common to his day.
Miles
Those patents expired around 2005 or so. Gifs are fine now.
Droewyn
Peter Pan is superior to Jif in every way, and GIF is pronounced with a hard G.
SpaceshipPilot
Then perish.
Deanatay
You mean it’s not “jraphics interchange format”?
John Small Berries
No more than it’s “light aymplification by ztimulated uhmission of radiation”, or “self-contained oonderwater breathing uhpparatus”.
anonymousethatscurriesinthedarkness
Please don’t die on that hill.
Have the other guy die on that hill – G Patton.
Miles
That hill is littered with so many corpses you can build a fort out of them.
Slartibeast Button, BIA
It’s spelled “jifs”, but it’s pronounced “Throat-warbler Mangrove.”
milu
hahaha thank you XD
poofdepoof
Too late for that
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/03-when-it-crumbles/complicated-2/
Paul
The “hashtag” thing took me forever to understand that people were referring to the “pound sign” AKA the “number sign”
Needfuldoer
Octothorp.
Or “little tic-tac-toe board” if you really want to annoy people.
Regalli
Honestly I think of it half the time as a sharp.
Bicycle Bill
You want to really mess with their minds, call it an ‘octothorpe’.
Jo Giggles
Oh, Amber :'(
Nono
Ooh, has Ethan entered the flannel wearing phase of gay life? About a decade earlier than expected, but good on him.
JetstreamGW
Wait they’re making them take their finals right now? Double you tee eff.
Nono
It’s midterms.
Dean
Ethan might be referring to a medical test, since they seem to be still at the hospital.
Bicycle Bill
Or he had to leave to take his test and has now returned to the hospital/University clinic to be with Amber again.
Regalli
I know finals have limited rescheduling potential because grades have a hard date they’re due by, but that’s not usually the case for midterms in my experience. That said, any rescheduling would require scheduling with the campus testing center (already packed at the moment,) and there is probably at least one Douchebag Professor whose stance is ‘hey, YOU’RE not dead or comatose, now are you?’
(I expect Alex and Leslie would both allow rescheduling no questions asked, assuming theirs haven’t occurred yet. The new TA for the math class might have to go through Dr. Rees, who may or may not be aware a kidnapping occurred for all we’ve seen of him, either way we don’t have a proper ping on them.)
AntJ
She already had Alex’s midterm https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/02-to-remind-you-of-my-love/solving/
Thanatos
Maybe he wanted to take the test. A bit of normalcy is how some people get through tough times. Just check out, go take the test, then come back after the mental break.
Stephen Bierce
*plays the late Charlie Daniels’ “Still In Saigon” on the hacked Muzak*
Cholma
Oof. Followed by Billy Joel’s “Goodnight Saigon”?
KJ
relatable
Skartling
Like
Reltzik
It’ll be really bad when she starts talking in ASCII art.
Needfuldoer
She ends up slumped back in her chair, half asleep, only replying in AX.25 packet radio modem sounds.
John Lennerton
Ah, the sweet sounds of packet.
Deanatay
BEEEBHAAAAAAALEELEELELELELELEELELEE
StClair
?
Nick Piers
On the bright side, she didn’t respond with eggplant.
Gwydion
Peach emoji, sweat droplets emoji, eggplant emoji
NinjaNick
<_<
Regalli
Ah yes, THERE’S the social anxiety/severe introversion again!
… And there’s the professor who refuses to let ‘I was kidnapped yesterday and one of my best friends is comatose’ be a reason for test postponement, because if they let someone reschedule for a reason as petty as kidnapping and threatened murder by a mobster, where do you draw the line, I ask you?
Which is to say, that’s the most realistic piece of fallout from the kidnapping we’ve seen yet! *Sobs*
Leorale
Maybe Ethan had the option, and he’d already studied, and wanted a break from thinking about the kidnapping to just get the test done. Or maybe his professor is terrible.
Regalli
That is entirely possible. Means one less thing to think about, as well.
I’ve just had enough shitty faculty members and heard enough horror stories that odds are at least one of them is on that level. (Then again, the one who said he only gave excused absences for active military deployment, police custody, and ER admission with proof of each was a law professor, so maybe we should expect that from Sarah’s faculty. I’m pretty sure I’d found the online section of the same class before we were through the syllabus, because that was one condescending first session.)
Droewyn
There was a computer science prof at Michigan State who was famous for his “If you can prove you were feeding the ducks at the time, you get an automatic 100% on his final” escape clause.
… but witnesses could lie, and photo/video evidence could be faked… etc. etc.
And then some student showed up to the final with two ducks (because “ducks”, plural), and spent the entire test time feeding them.
Regalli
Impressive.
Chris
But can the professor trust his own eyes?
butts
…aren’t they looking right, though, from their perspective
BBCC
Sympathetic face.
Beef