Is That an Emoticon in 1862? in NYT

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:43 PM -0500 1/19/09, Jocelyn Limpert wrote:
>To me, as an editor, it looks like a typographical mistake, transposing the
>semiocolon and the final parenthesis -- nothing more than that/
>
>Jocelyn Limpert

...and something less than that, given the patterns of mid-19th
century typography, as noted.

LH
>
>
>On 1/19/09, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: Is That an Emoticon in 1862? in NYT
>>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  I'm surprised that J8L quoted me.  I thought I didn't have anything to say
>>  of any value.  My initial reaction was that this was just too early to be an
>>  emoticon, but she persuaded me to soften that stance a bit.
>>
>>  Fred Shapiro
>>
>>
>>
>>  ________________________________________
>>  From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Grant
>>  Barrett [gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG]
>>  Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 6:14 PM
>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  Subject: Is That an Emoticon in 1862? in NYT
>>
>>  Our own Fred Shapiro is quoted in this article about whether a
>>  semicolon next to a close parenthesis in 1862 is an emoticon or a
>>  mistake.
>>
>>  http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/hfo-emoticon/
>>
>>  > In the transcription of President Lincoln's speech, which added
>>  > comments about applause and shouts from the audience was this line:
>>  >
>>  > "...there is no precedent for your being here yourselves, (applause
>>  > and laughter ;) and I offer, in justification of myself and you,
>>  > that I have found nothing in the Constitution against."
>>  >
>>  > Bryan Benilous, who works with historical newspapers at Proquest,
>>  > said the team felt the ";)" after the word "laughter" was an
>>  > emoticon, more than a century before emoticons became a widespread
>>  > concept.
>>
>>  Grant Barrett
>>  gbarrett at worldnewyork.org
>>
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