[Editors] 1862 emoticon

[Eric S Keezer]

Great article.

Wouldn't it be funny to see the entire audience winking at the president?  ;)

I don't think it's an emoticon, but the result of a skilled typesetter. The semicolon in question possibly represents the pause Abe made as he spoke through the interruptions of the bantering crowd. It may have been common practice to add a space before the semicolon, pushing it up against the right parentheses on occasion. Wikipedia suggests<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semicolon>, "Modern style guides recommend no space before them, and one space after." The typesetter used parentheses throughout to indicate verbal audience interruptions and possibly brackets to indicate the natural pauses in Abe's speech. My guess is the typesetter picked up a metal semicolon (example attached) and placed it in the layout with an aim to accurately represent the scene for readers. Semicolons were used again in the article (see yellow circles in attached screen shot) possibly to represent the additional pauses Abe made as he spoke over the excited crowd.

Though, who's to say someone didn't read it as a smiley face?

Eric

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Eric Keezer
Sr. Graphic Designer
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MIT
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On Jun 8, 2011, at 11:47 AM, William T. G. Litant wrote:

I had read this a few years ago - a few people in AeroAstro asked me about it recently, likely as it was mentioned on "Wait Wait ...  Don't Tell Me!" I think you folks will appreciate it. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/hfo-emoticon/

Best,
Bill


William Litant
communications director
Aeronautics and Astronautics Department
and
Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction
37-395
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139
office: 617-253-1564
mobile: 617-800-5648





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