Rant?

I haven't ranted in a long, long time. Time to break the rant-fast, I think.

Why do people reply with a smiley? I mean, I am neither for or against the usage of smileys. I do it myself to an auto-annoyance level.

And, yes, I do admit there are times when it is appropriate to use a single smiley as an answer:

Exhibit A
Dudette: Eh, how you walk around the house if they always Hunt Mouse with Electrical Traps?
Me: =.=

But when every random thing is answered with a smiley, often unrelated to the prior question/sentence, there's only one word that comes to mind: wtf?

Exhibit B
Dude: Bust a Move
Me: Mr Schue?
Dude: :P

Exhibit C
Me: Wah you going on a video streak, ah?
Dude: :)

Me in both instances: wtf?

Are you happy when I ask that? Are you so angry that I cracked where you got that quote that you stick out your tongue? What, man? What?

This rant is weak. I'm all out of shape, haih. I need to be bitter again.