Is That an Emoticon in 1862? in NYT

[Jonathan Lighter]

Adding to the idiocy of the whole thing is the fact that if the ;) is an
emoticon, where's the closing parenthesis?

"I am here upon the scaffold" (wink, wink!)

He must have been counting on a rescue by the Merry Men.

JL

On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 10:14 PM, George Thompson
<george.thompson at nyu.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Is That an Emoticon in 1862? in NYT
>
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>
> Due to one thing and another, and so forth, I have on my home computer only
> the section of my notes covering 1826-1860.  In that block I find the ";)"
> sequence only once, in a program of a recital of songs and soliloquys by
> James Hewlett, my ace boon coon, so to speak, the leading actor of "The
> African Theater", from the years after the failure of that theater company,
> when Hewlett was touring on his own.
>
> But I do find it.
>
> ***  Richard III, in imitation of Mr. Kean; a scene in Othello, in
> imitation of Mr. Kean; a scene in Brutus, in the fall of Tarquin; in
> imitation of Mr. Cooper in Bertram, and the speech of Damon (I am here upon
> the scaffold;) Mr. Conway in Julius Caesar.  ***
> New-York National Advocate, March 30, 1826, p. 2, col. 6.  A similar notice
> appeared in the New-York National Advocate, April 10, 1826, p. 3, col. 1;
> repeated April 11, 1826, p. 2, col. 6.
>
> Hewlett usually offered his songs or recitations as being done imitation of
> the style of a noted actor or singer of the day.
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> Our national nightmare is ending.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Date: Monday, January 19, 2009 9:06 pm
> Subject: Re: Is That an Emoticon in 1862? in NYT
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> > At 1/19/2009 09:01 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> > >So
> > >I take the printing as part error, part 1229th century style.
> >
> > That should, of course, have been "19th century style"!
> >
> > Joel
> >
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