June 24, 2011
Nabokov imagined the emoticon before it existed
by Melville House
N
ews to me, via Lapham’s Quarterly: In 1969 Vladamir Nabokov was interviewed for an article in The New York Times, and was asked, “How do you rank yourself among writers (living) and of the immediate past?” His response:
I often think there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile–some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket, which I would now like to trace in reply to your question.
Nabokov’s typographical concept would become a reality in 1982 when Scott E. Fahlman, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University posted the following message on a university bulletin board:
I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:
: -)
Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use : -(
The Navy goes all e.e. cummings on us 
Notes on design: “It’s ok not to reinvent the wheel.” 
SLIDE SHOW … Making the cover: The Last Interview 
2 Comments
Not quite. Nabokov wished for a supine sign, a smiling little bowl sitting edges up on the line.
Not quite. Nabokov wished for a supine sign, a smiling little bowl sitting edges up on the line.