I disagree. Emojis are mostly used in communication, so they are used to substitute expressions, inflection etc.
Laugh tracks are not usually played over phone calls.
this post was submitted on 12 May 2026
59 points (95.4% liked)
Showerthoughts
42121 readers
222 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both β200β and β160β are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When youβre a kid, you donβt realize youβre also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
That's a billion dollar AI startup idea, right there.
Laugh track = thou shalt laugh while I'm saying this because it's funny
Emoji = I'm laughing while I'm saying this because my intention is to be funny
They have reels and whatnot with laughtracks. It's actually worse than you imagine.
Fucking brits
no, it's a international thing
That's true, because I also cringe at laugh tracks
π
Nerds on this thread may be interested in linguistic research on emoji as gesture by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne.
Here's an open-access academic paper for the mega-nerds out there
With an overview of that article written for a more general audience, in The Conversation
For those who prefer their edutainment in audio format, McCulloch and Gawne's podcast is a fun and eclectic listen. Here's the episode on emoji as gesture.
Further Reading
For those wanting to learn more, McCulloch's 2019 book "Because Internet" is a delightfully fun read that I can strongly recommend. It looks at the wider picture of how the internet has changed communication, with a chapter dedicated to emoji. There's been a lot of productive discussion (both academic and informal) in this area since then, and McCulloch's work has been a key factor in driving that.
Also, I've not yet read it, but Lauren Gawne has a more recent (2025) book titled "Gesture: a slim guide " that says it's "suitable for readers of all backgrounds".
If you're interested in either of these books, then you should support the authors and purchase the book(s) if you have the means to. Certainly, that's preferable to downloading it for free from a shadow library like Anna's Archive(Wikipedia has reliable and up to date links to this site (so you know what sites to avoid, ofc) and pointing you there means I'm not directly linking you to the naughty site.
N.b. I am a biochemist, not a linguist, and so my word-nerdery is purely of the hobbyist variety. I don't have particular domain knowledge in this area.
Also, this comment is in part because I linked these resources to a friend not too long ago, so I had it mostly to hand.
Whoa! I just told my partner literally yesterday that lol is the laugh track of texting.
lol
in many languages, vocals (a, e, i, u, o) carry emotion, consonants (k, r, t, l, m, n, ...) carry meaning.
Counterpoint: ο½’πΊο½£ is not a laugh!
-- Frost πΊ