For better or worse, adults learn to say it with emoticons - Alex Williams, International Herald Tribune

There are many ways to console someone when a multimillion-dollar business deal falls through. Firing off a "tough break" e-mail message punctuated by a frown-face emoticon might not be the best one. Alexis Feldman, director of Feldman Realty, a commercial real estate company in New York, was working on a major deal when, "at the 23rd hour," she received "an e-mail from the broker saying: 'Sorry, my client is not interested in the space, too bad we couldn't make the big bucks' " And then there was a frown face emoticon.

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