(no subject)

[aroraborealis]

[Poll #1141478]

Comments

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

(Unless, of course, I'm chatting on a system that automatically turns emoticons into images, in which case, the closing bracket on the parenthetical statement gets lost. :)

[coraline]

but what do you do if you can't tell whether the same thing happens on your recipient's side? dilemma!

[randysmith]

A practical expression of the correctness of the true architectural purity answer: Don't combine the parenthesis and the smiley! :-}

[sweetmmeblue.livejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking. When I have to use parenthesis I use other things for the mouth part of the smiley.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

It's a problem!

[blk]

Graphical smileys are evil. I turn them all off.

[catness.livejournal.com]

That!

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

One of the many reasons I'm too lazy to have multiple accounts...

[darthsunshine.livejournal.com]

*laughs*
You know, I can't count how many times I've sat pondering how best to accomplish this very thing! And I'm not especially consistent with what I do--it often ends up being based on what looks right for the specific instance.

[fanw.livejournal.com]

Neither feels strictly right, but I tend to go for readability and drop the second parenthetical just so my smiley doesn't have a double chin.

[roozle.livejournal.com]

The parenthesis that opens the statement has to be balanced by a parenthesis that closes the statement, and the curved line forming the bottom of the smiley is NOT a closing parenthesis, just because its using the same character on the keyboard. Unbalanced parentheses! Wrong! Well the compiler will catch it anyway.

[ceo]

What she said.

[aerynne.livejournal.com]

Me too. Closing parenthetical is absolutely necessary and I wince every time someone drops it.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Not acceptable, however: (parenthetical comment, plus smiley! :))

In practice, what I usually do is (parenthetical comment, plus smiley! :->), despite the possibility of misinterpretation of the parenthesis as a beard. Sadly, AIM chokes on ";->)", so this doesn't work for flirting in that medium.

[lunchboy.livejournal.com]

You forgot the other option (which is to use a Japanese-style smiley). (^_^)

[kcatalyst.livejournal.com]

\\(^o^)//

[formlesspassion.livejournal.com]

What about keeping the smiley outside of the parentheses?
(don't hide your smilies) :)
I too have pondered this long.

[beowabbit]

How about:

(-: parenthetical comment, plus smileys! :-)

[heinleinfan.livejournal.com]

I'm in such a kerfluffle about it, I just avoid it at all costs.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I find that (parenthetical comment, plus smiley :-) is sufficiently visually-balanced that another parenthesis feels like overkill.

That, and my text editor yells at me if it thinks I've added too many close parentheses, and I'm tired of that.

[fraterrisus]

heaven forfend anyone use a non-smiling smiley – but when i do use one inside parentheses, i also close the parentheses:

(this is a smiley comment :)
(this is a not-so-happy comment :/ )
(this is a frowny comment :( )

but that looks so terrible that i try not to do it.