tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19106928.post5555640758612617527..comments2024-02-29T02:37:34.896-06:00Comments on Ivebeenreadinglately: The first emoticon?Levi Stahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11094919454842047688noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19106928.post-8069889534241767292014-10-16T05:01:59.655-05:002014-10-16T05:01:59.655-05:00Not a typo. I spotted the same thing in a Maltese ...Not a typo. I spotted the same thing in a Maltese translation of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19106928.post-46771153015085608952014-04-21T19:21:57.710-05:002014-04-21T19:21:57.710-05:00The ":)" punctuation is not really unusu...The ":)" punctuation is not really unusual to see in the period (with no evidence of being used as emoticons). As Bonnie notes above it appears throughout the book, including the second page of verse: "To read my Booke the Virgin shie / May blush, (while Brutus standeth by:)"<br />If only it had been a semi-colon, right?<br /><br />(BTW, I'm looking at a scan of the 1648 edition on Early English Books Online.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19106928.post-71352515684916684442014-04-17T14:19:03.553-05:002014-04-17T14:19:03.553-05:00Anonymous at 11:25 PM is exactly right. The givea...Anonymous at 11:25 PM is exactly right. The giveaway, at least in the Herrick example, is the colon later in the excerpt, which does NOT appear within parentheses -- that's because it's not part of a parenthetical phrase.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19106928.post-78307318632102092362014-04-16T18:56:59.221-05:002014-04-16T18:56:59.221-05:00There is nothing more sad to me than when someone ...There is nothing more sad to me than when someone is writing a physical letter (rare, I know) and draws an emoticon. Sideways. Which is ridiculous. Maggie Bandurnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19106928.post-66152437142945434762014-04-15T09:08:10.734-05:002014-04-15T09:08:10.734-05:00Hmm, there's the same collocation of a colon a...Hmm, there's the same collocation of a colon and a closed parenthesis (with that all-important open parenthesis a few words ahead) in "To Anthea," which appears on the page immediately following "To Fortune" in the 1648 edition. And it's also on the page that precedes "To Fortune," in a poem titled "To M. Denham, on his Prospective Poem." Was Herrick or his printer/publisher especially smiley-face-happy or could these just be instances of punctuation that now seem unusual to us? And, if the mention of "smiling" in "To Fortune" makes more natural the placement of a smiley face at the end of that line, is the smiley-face-lacking "I dare not beg a smile;" in "To Electra" (p. 272) a missed opportunity? : (Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09359310121912411533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19106928.post-41014166808911920742014-04-14T23:25:42.506-05:002014-04-14T23:25:42.506-05:00Neither is an emoticon. They are both instances of...Neither is an emoticon. They are both instances of punctuation inside of parentheses rather than outside and we're just not used to seeing that. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19106928.post-75820358139738688402014-04-14T20:39:15.708-05:002014-04-14T20:39:15.708-05:00Punch magazine did a whole array of emoticons in t...Punch magazine did a whole array of emoticons in the nineteenth century. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19106928.post-12967186272063191152014-04-13T14:54:00.011-05:002014-04-13T14:54:00.011-05:00The 1862 example looks more like a typo to me — ju...The 1862 example looks more like a typo to me — just a reversal of the parenthesis and semicolon — but I think yours might be the real deal!Ironmom (Julie)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com