Originally posted by hamltnblue
I think alot of people here and on other chess sites forget that this is international and not everyone understands english. If someone wrote Good Game or even the initials in French, German, Hindu or any other language I wouldn't have a clue what they were saying and wouldn't try to answer it because they wouldn't understand the response. Try using the good ole smiley face π or something else.
Good point. I once told someone to "break a leg" and this was interpreted as a threat by someone unfamiliar with the idiom.
Unfortunately, the "good old smiley face" can be seen as smirking by an opponent who has just lost a game.
The acronym "gg" is as close to a universalism as one is likely to find in the chess world, but as you point out, it needn't be understood, for a variety of reasons.
I have solved this problem by means of the true universal language: mathematics. I begin with simple groupings of random symbols (it doesn't matter what, as long as I am consistent) and work through fundamental operations such as simple addition, using base ten. By the time a long game has finished my opponent and I are generally able to exhange simple concepts by means of number-theoretical equivalencies. It's much the same principle as the communication method used in ET the Extraterrestrial, only using numbers instead of sounds.