In a New York Times article from January 19, Jennifer Lee described research done on an 1862 New York Times transcript of a speech by Abraham Lincoln. A historical newspaper specialist, Bryan Benilous spotted what appears to be a "wink face" in the newspaper. The transcript showed when the audience laughed or applauded by using brackets around the words applause, laughter etc. However, in one example, parentheses were used around "applause and laughter", with a semicolon included in the parentheses. Looking like this, (applause and laughter ;). Historians have debated whether this could have been on purpose or not. Benilous and his team seem to think it was done on purpose. However, the Carnegie Mellon professor Scott E. Fahlman, who has been credited with inventing emoticons claims that this was merely a typo. On the other hand, Vincent Golden, the curator of newspapers a
nd periodicals of the American Antiquarian Society, explains that back then a linotype machine was used to write newspapers. This means that to insert a semicolon, the typesetter would have had to have done it purposefully. Some debate that parentheses were used because they were running low on brackets. Some debate that this was proper punctuation for the time. But, some have then wondered why there was a space in between the semicolon and the parenthesis. No one really knows!
1 comment:
Huh...I found this information to be quite thought-provoking. It gave me pause to wonder also why it is that we should be so surprised by early uses of quote-unquote "emoticons" in earlier decades. After all, mankind has always been pretty good at simplifying and creating convenience whenever and wherever possible. But this is one of the most dynamic examples of that process I've ever seen. Very interesting. :)
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