If an insertion in parentheses ends with a smiley, how do I distinguish between the two?

Question

I know smileys are not part of written language (yet), and any questions about them are irrelevant to linguistics and are kind of not serious. So take my question with a smiley then.

It bugs me every time I'm facing this situation: if an insertion in parentheses ends with a smiley, what should I do?

A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :) ) can be annoying.

A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :)) can be annoying.

A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :) can be annoying.

I don't like any of the above. Any (clever) suggestions?

I prefer to use a different smiley in parentheses (like this :P), or use a Japanese-style smiley ^_^. — dbkk, Nov 11 '10 at 05:45
Just as an aside, where is this used outside of chat rooms and informal e-mails? I haven't seen emoticons in "serious" writing except as inset e-mails. I certainly wouldn't expect to see them get past the editors at the New York Times. They don't even acknowledge that people can tweet things. — John, Feb 10 '11 at 05:02
See comments on this question - (did these inspire your question?) — Benjol, Feb 10 '11 at 08:59
This is one of several reasons that I'm more likely to use the XMLish notation than an emoticon. — keshlam, Mar 28 '14 at 05:54
This is one reason why i use the :/ emoticon everywhere. Another is that it fits every situation — kinokijuf, Sep 06 '14 at 21:57

score 43 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 09 '17 at 18:04

43

I couldn't resist but post this!

But seriously, I generally avoid ending a bracketed expression with an emoticon. One solution could however be to use square brackets:

A lot of insertions in parentheses [well, if it's not Lisp :)] can be annoying.

Though it's rather non-standard, it at least looks better. I'm sure almost any reader would understand it too.

edited Mar 09 '17 at 18:04

Community

1

answered Nov 10 '10 at 21:55

Noldorin

13,260

2

OK, the question is answered :) – mojuba Nov 10 '10 at 21:58
2

Heh, yeah! XKCD has an answer to anything. But really, it's a bit of a moot point. Personally i just avoid ending a bracketed expression with an emoticon! – Noldorin Nov 10 '10 at 22:02
3

Square brackets look a lot better indeed. People with math/CS background though usually take square brackets as an "optional" insertion, but I think it's still fine. – mojuba Nov 10 '10 at 22:09
7

I solve the "mismatched parenthesis" problem by using Japanese smileys. \(^_^)/ Likewise, I don't tilt my head 90° before smiling in real life. – RegDwigнt Nov 11 '10 at 12:49
"A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp \(^_^)/) can be annoying." Hey not bad! – Claudiu Nov 11 '10 at 16:48
4

Today's one is pretty good too: http://xkcd.com/859/ – Benjol Feb 11 '11 at 06:28
Also consider, "A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :] )can be annoying." – ChrisM Nov 17 '11 at 17:33

score 30 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 10 '10 at 22:14

30

It’s the twenty-first century! We have a much better alternative to old ASCII emoticons: Unicode!

A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp ☺) can be annoying.

… well, ok, I admit that I do not always like this, either. ☹

answered Nov 10 '10 at 22:14

Tsuyoshi Ito

6,369

5

Come on, Unicode can do a lot more impressive ٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶ – Tobias Kienzler Oct 20 '12 at 12:39
...although with something like the EmojiOne color font it actually looks bearable – Tobias Kienzler Aug 22 '16 at 10:48

score 23 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 17 '11 at 17:41

23

I tend to leave a space on both sides, like this

A lot of insertions in parentheses ( well, if it's not Lisp :) ) can be annoying.

also, using dashes is worth trying

A lot of insertions in parentheses — well, if it's not Lisp :) — can be annoying.

edited Nov 17 '11 at 17:41

Marthaª

32,910

answered Nov 11 '10 at 14:11

agnul

331

1

After the recent work on PL/SQL, at first glance: He has left a comment at the end of the line :-) – Nivas Feb 11 '11 at 03:43
I usually go for the square brackets myself, but a proper dash seems to work just as well. :) – AnonJr Feb 11 '11 at 12:48
2

The emoticon is drooling. :) – Goodbye Stack Exchange May 04 '11 at 04:28

score 13 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 09 '11 at 21:00

13

There really isn't any way to make it not look weird (as famously documented by xkcd), but my preferred form, and I believe the more common practice, is to "merge" the smiley with the closing parenthesis. (So, like this. :)

answered Feb 09 '11 at 21:00

chaos

19,612

Nick Pierpoint · Answer 5 · 2011-02-10T07:40:21.453

11

I think James Joyce would go for a dash instead...

A lot of insertions in parentheses - well, if it's not Lisp :) - can be annoying.

edited Feb 10 '11 at 07:40

answered Feb 10 '11 at 07:17

Nick Pierpoint

513

score 8 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 09 '11 at 21:12

In direct conflict with chaos, my preferred form, and I believe the more common practice, is to separate the smiley from the closing parenthesis by a single space. :-)

Normally a space should not be included between a parenthesis and the word it is adjacent to, but when using a parenthesis as part of a separate lexical element, spacing between the "word-element" parenthesis and the "syntax-element" parenthesis is very helpful to avoid confusion. Otherwise you might be sending a double-chin smiley and still have no closing parenthesis.

The best solution, of course, is to avoid such a potentially confusing issue in the first place: grow a goatee, so that all your smileys can be of the form ":-)>".

score 5 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 11 '10 at 00:07

5

Maybe these ones:

:-P)

:-{)

:-()

:-)-:

answered Nov 11 '10 at 00:07

igor

1,297

Nice kissing smileys/frownies – Jared Updike Nov 11 '10 at 00:29
4

you forgot C:, :D, and ^.^ among others....:) – kitukwfyer Nov 11 '10 at 02:42

score 5 · Answer 8 · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:18

5

Use ٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶ Unicode smileys

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:18

Community

1

answered Nov 11 '10 at 14:28

Tobias Kienzler

569

score 3 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 11 '10 at 00:08

I'm sure there is not a defined standard as yet, however I find that putting a space between the smiley and the close parentheses makes it look less like a double parentheses mistake (though it can look jarring at the same time :) )

I would certainly, as a pedant, NOT drop the last parentheses (especially where I am not at the end of a sentence :) as it is ambiguous as to whether the parenthesed clause has completed yet, although I would readily admit a mid bracket smiley is particularly jarring and ugly).

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 09 '11 at 21:08

There should not be any spaces after the smiley, in the same way there is no space between a word and a closing parenthesis.

In some messages sent through IM applications, a space is added after the smiley and before a parenthesis, as in some of these applications the textual smilies are replaced from a icon/image; in these applications, the double parentheses are used for a different smiley. This could explain why some people are used to add a space after a smiley, and before the following parenthesis.

score 2 · Answer 11 · answered Feb 10 '11 at 02:49

2

(what about this (: )

ok... not good enough...

answered Feb 10 '11 at 02:49

score 2 · Answer 12 · answered Feb 10 '11 at 04:56

I usually insert the extra space in between the smile and the closing parenthesis for a couple of reasons:

The extra space prevents unintended tokenizing of the second parenthesis. It bugs me when I write choose (A) or (B) and the text parser converts the capital B and the right parenthesis to a "cool shades emoticon".
It looks clearer to me. Without the extra space it just looks like my keyboard hiccuped on the right side.

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered Nov 17 '11 at 17:36

1

I would suggest using a square bottomed smiley with a space after it.

A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :] ) can be annoying.

answered Nov 17 '11 at 17:36

ChrisM

605

score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Mar 27 '14 at 19:39

Think about it this way, how would you do a frowny face?

A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :( ) can be annoying.
A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :() can be annoying.
A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :( can be annoying.

I suggest none of them. Instead you could put the smiley/frowny outside the parenthesis:

A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp) :( can be annoying.
A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp) :) can be annoying.

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Jul 29 '16 at 06:04

Thanks to Unicode there's different widths of spaces, some of which may be more aesthetically pleasing depending on your preferences.

Figure Space

A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :) ) can be annoying.

Thin Space

A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :) ) can be annoying.

Hair Space

A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :)&hairsp;) can be annoying.

(Note: some render at different widths depending on font, so experiment with fonts if none of these are satisfactory)

If an insertion in parentheses ends with a smiley, how do I distinguish between the two?

15 Answers15

Figure Space

Thin Space

Hair Space

Linked