I’m in touch with my papa every day on LINE, but he uses what people call “old-man texting,” adding several emojis to the end of every single message.

How about pretending the emojis aren’t there and just reading the text? Tell yourself, “Emoji = allowance,” and pretend you can’t see them.

Thank you for your question. Maezawa will answer as well. I think it’s basically impossible to explain it without making him feel bad. However, if the questioner’s personality is likable and hard to dislike, he might not take it badly. That said, I think it’s fine to tell him directly. You could explain it like: “This is what people call an ‘uncle-style’ message. These days, it’s more normal to use emojis sparingly. Something like this would be better.” Of course, you should tell him in person when you meet. I think it’s important to talk while paying attention to how the other person feels. By the way, there was a time when 99% of older men didn’t use emojis. People said their messages sounded angry, so everyone desperately started adding emojis. I feel that the people who worked so hard to learn that back then are still using emojis today. But by now it’s probably become ingrained, so it may be difficult for them to change. Of course, in another 30 years, the questioner will probably be the one being told these things, too. Maybe then you’ll understand how your current partner feels. It’s not easy. Marika’s question—“Would you really stop disliking him if only his LINE messages changed?”—seems to get to the heart of the matter. When you like someone, you usually don’t care about most little things. And even when you neither like nor dislike someone, those things may not bother you much. But there’s a saying: “If you hate the monk, you hate even his robes.” So if you’re trying to spend time with someone you basically dislike for the sake of money, even small things can start to feel unforgivable.

Maybe you’re only feeling disgusted because you didn’t particularly like him to begin with and are seeing him out of necessity for the money, yet he sends you messages packed with emojis. Would changing only the wording of his LINE messages really make you stop disliking him? As Joe always says, telling someone what you dislike about them without hurting their feelings is extremely difficult—if not impossible. If he were a papa you’d become close enough with to speak casually, you’d probably just say, “Hey, your LINE messages are ridiculously middle-aged-man-ish. If you send messages like that to other girls too, they’ll end up disliking you.” But since you don’t feel you can say that, you’re asking about it here. If you don’t actually dislike your papa, then personally, I’d say I wouldn’t care about a few emojis in his LINE messages. I have ended a relationship before because he kept sending long messages several times a day, explaining the places he’d been, along with scenery photos and selfies, and I eventually got fed up with it. Once you start disliking things like that, even things you used to be able to overlook—like his white briefs—can suddenly seem incredibly disgusting, and before you know it, you hate everything about him. Sorry for going off-topic. Marika

I don’t understand why someone would feel stressed over something as minor as emojis. I think they’re simply trying to seem young, so please cut them some slack. Personally, I never use emojis because, at my age, I find them embarrassing. If you really can’t stand it, perhaps say something like, “Adults write so elegantly and beautifully, without using emojis like younger people do.” They might get the hint.

In a ditzy way: You could just ask, “Hey, hey, why do you always add emojis?” If you’re the kind of person who posts ditzy questions, you should be able to pull it off naturally.