xkcd-emoticons-with-parentheses-problem-exposed

xkcd comic #541 (titled “TED Talk”) expose a problem I’ve long been aware of: how do you end parenthetical statements with emoticons?

Randall reveal two possible solutions:

  1. … Linux (or BSD :) would…

  2. … Linux (or BSD :) ) would…

Of course, none of these are acceptable! But today, I think I’ve found the definitive solution…

As you may know, unicode comes with loads of weird characters. The weirdest are called dingbats . Beside this family, you’ll find the weirdest of the weirdest , which contain 2 interesting symbols:

So using the latest, our statement become:

… Linux (or BSD ☺) would…

Problem solved! :D