"I often think there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile."*

[supergee]

Happy birthday, emoticon :-)

Thanx to Follow Me Here

*Vladimir Nabokov

Comments

[oursin]

I'd really like to trace this one all the way back to Tristram Shandy, but I don't think Sterne's wilder typographical flights quite attained the Ur-Smiley.