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From: avi@pegasus.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: :-)unbalanced parentheses(-:
Message-ID: <930@pegasus.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 13-Feb-84 19:26:30 EST
Article-I.D.: pegasus.930
Posted: Mon Feb 13 19:26:30 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 17-Feb-84 02:35:59 EST
Organization: AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft NJ
Lines: 22

Ever since we all adopted the cute little "smiling face" method of
indicating that we are kidding around, or being sarcastic, I have found my
sensibilities being offended. How does one balance the parentheses in a
sentence, when lopsided constructs like ":-)" and "(-:" are being used in a
sentence!!!! Where do they fit grammatically? Is it before or after the
period at the end of the sentence? Must we escape them with a backslash --
as in "\(-:" and "\:-)", or does this change their meaning?

My temporary solution is to use "(-: :-)", which allows a balance to be
maintained. Does this combination have any unwanted double meanings? Do they
cancel each other out? Does anybody really care? Replacing parentheses by
braces and various flavors of brackets (as in "<-:", "[-:", "{-:", ...) does
not make it look any nicer. Does it really matter if you use a left-handed
(sinister) smile? Is there a right way to do it?

Since I can no longer unambiguously use these symbols, I would like to
mention that all the above is meant in a combination of kidding/sarcasm. I
am unhappy about the parenthesis situation, but the net is not written in
Lisp, and most humans can parse relatively well.
-- 
-=> Avi E. Gross @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6241
 suggested paths: [ihnp4, allegra, cbosg, hogpc, ...]!pegasus!avi